Trust
by KandaYu18
Summary: After a reaction between Kanda's and a newly retrieved Innocence fragment, the Japanese Exorcist turns into a child. With Leverrier believing that the reaction was caused by betrayal, how was Allen meant to make everyone believe Kanda was innocent? How was he meant to get Kanda to trust him when he could only remember what the Order had put him through?
1. Chapter One: Reaction

**Trust**

 **Summary:** After a reaction between Kanda's and a newly retrieved Innocence fragment, the Japanese Exorcist turns into a child. With Leverrier believing that the reaction was caused by betrayal, how was Allen meant to make everyone believe Kanda was innocent? How was he meant to get Kanda to trust him when he could only remember what the Order had put him through?

 **Note:** This story is based just after they move to the new HQ. Allen is suspected of being the 14th, but is no longer being monitored since they have no valid proof against him. Spoilers ahead for the Alma Karma arc, even though this story hasn't gone past it yet.

 **Chapter One**

 **Reaction**

This wasn't meant to be how the mission turned out. They had retrieved the Innocence easily enough and were killing the Akuma that had shown up to try and stop them from taking it was ease. Out of nowhere the Innocence had reacted, not to the Akuma, but to Kanda— and the only way Allen Walker could describe what happened, was that the Innocence had _electrocuted_ the Japanese Exorcist until he passed out.

When he went to help him, he feared the worst when all he came across was the black order uniform on the ground, but on closer inspection he saw that Kanda…Kanda had…

Turned into a child? Of course, Allen couldn't stop and think about what had happened, automatically picking his partner up and then jumping out of the way as an Akuma tried to attack with the distraction, silver hues flashing in anger.

"Crown Clown!" his cloak of Innocence shot out and killed every Akuma nearby, and when he was sure that they were alone, he knelt down, shaking the unconscious _child_ in his arms, calling out his name. "Kanda? Kanda, can you hear me? Kanda!"

When he got no response, he bit his lip, checking through the coat for the Innocence, only to find that it was no longer on Kanda. What had happened to it? Allen didn't know, but at that moment he didn't care. All he knew was, it was the Innocence that done this.

Carrying him, Allen ran off, knowing that all he could do was take Kanda back to the HQ and hope that Komui had an answer to this. There had to be a reason, right?

…Right?

 **Trust**

By the time Allen made it back, Kanda was feverish, still unconscious and in a bad state. Innocence sparked across his skin, clearly causing him pain. It didn't take long for Komui to appear from his shouts for help, along with the Head Nurse, taking the Exorcist out of his arms and taking him to the medical wing, taking him out of the uniform he was drowning in and being attached to various pieces of equipment.

Komui turned to Allen, his brow furrowed, concern spreading across his features.

"Allen," he spoke. "What on earth happened? The last time we spoke, everything was going well—"

"I-It was the Innocence," Allen gulped, standing in the corner as Kanda was tended to, numerous wet rags covering his body to try and calm down the fever that was taking over him. "The Innocence Fragment we collected…it…it looked like it was trying to _kill_ him Komui!"

"That's impossible," Komui answered back, shaking his head. "Kanda is an Accommodator. The Innocence wouldn't just—"

"I know what I saw!" Allen snapped. "It electrocuted him until he couldn't stand anymore!"

Both of them went silent when a sudden scream crossed the room, Kanda thrashing on the medical bed, the Innocence sparking across his arms, before they burst open and blood splattered everywhere.

"T-The Innocence…is it…?" before Komui could finish his question, a familiar voice spoke by the doorway, making Allen's skin crawl as he turned his head to look.

"It's rejecting him," the voice of Malcolm C. Leverrier drawled, the man of high authority entering the room. "Though it is not clear if that is the case. Though if it is rejecting him, then we can assume that he may be a betrayer."

Allen clenched his fists. He should have expected this kind of comment from Leverrier. Though how could the white-haired teen go against his words? He didn't even have a witness to back up his story since Leverrier, out of all the damn times, decided that he didn't need to be monitored at that moment in time. Glancing back towards Kanda, his thrashing had stopped, his body going completely still, and the blood that gushed out of his arms slowly sunk back into his skin, disappearing like nothing had ever happened.

"We should be handing him over to Hevlaska so that she can figure out what is going on with him," Leverrier continued, a glint in his eyes. "She'll be able to tell if he's a traitor or not."

"You're a cruel bastard, you know that?" Allen suddenly hissed out, only just managing to resist the urge to punch the man across the face. "He's clearly in pain and suffering, and all you can think about is checking out what is wrong with his Innocence? Are you even human?!"

The words were harsh, Allen knew this, but Leverrier just looked him in the eye, then smirked widely.

"Shouldn't I be asking you the same thing? Aren't you an ally of the Fourteenth?"

Before an argument could break out between them, Allen heard the Head Nurse speak, though not to them. To Kanda, who Allen was concerned for, but who Leverrier suspected to have betrayed the Order.

"Kanda? Can you hear me? How are you feeling?"

Dark onyx-blue hues were hazed over, the child staring straight up at the ceiling, before he spoke quietly, his voice coming out in a mumble.

"Kan…da?"

Allen felt like someone had stabbed him in the stomach. He knew straight away that Yu Kanda, the Exorcist that he thought nothing could ever happen to, didn't even know what his name was. He pushed by Leverrier and went over to the bed, the Head Nurse not even attempted to stop him, before speaking to him in a gentle tone.

"Yu?"

That seemed to stir more of a reaction from the child, who turned his head to look at Allen, trying to focus his gaze, then flatly responded.

"Who the hell are you?"

Allen simply smiled, unaffected by his cold tone, then raised his hands defensively.

"Allen Walker," he answered, closing his eyes and letting out a soft laugh. "Your friend."

Kanda continued to stare him down, then glanced to the side, then muttered under his breath angrily.

"Wipe that look off of your face, or else you'll turn out like Alma, idiot."

Everyone in the room but Allen froze at his words, the white-haired teen looking puzzled.

"Alma?" he queried, refusing to drop the smile off of his face. "Who is-"

"Allen Walker, this is an order," Leverrier's voice suddenly rang through the room, causing Allen to turn his head around slowly. "Take Yu Kanda to Hevlaska immediately."

Allen was about to protest, but Komui shook his head, as if silently telling him not to disobey, which caused him to grit his teeth and turn back to Kanda again, offering the child his hand.

"Kan-err, Yu," his gloved hand remained outstretched. "We're going to go visit Hevlaska. She's a…uhh…guardian of sorts who looks after this place. Leverrier wants to know if-"

"He wants to check if I'm compatible with Innocence," Kanda responded, his eyes growing cold as he slapped Allen's hand away, getting out of the bed. "I get it. You don't need to baby me."

Allen froze in place. Kanda couldn't even remember what his full name was, but he knew about Innocence? There was something going on, and he couldn't help but have a horrible feeling about it.

 **Trust**

When they went down the elevator, Allen glanced between Komui, whose expression was hidden from his bowed head, and Leverrier, who was discussing Kanda's innocence, Mugen being in Komui's hands, like Kanda wasn't even there. He then brought his attention to Kanda, who was holding a blank expression, but no matter how much he tried to hide it, Allen could see it.

Trembling. He was trembling.

He wanted to reach out and tell him it would be fine, but when the elevator stopped and they came face to face with Hevlaska, he could feel the guardian's stare on Kanda, questioning what was going on.

"So was this the disturbance I felt with the Innocence?" she finally spoke, causing everyone to look up at her in surprise. "All of the Innocence I've been protecting had a chain reaction not long ago…"

"I want you to analyze Yu Kanda, Hevlaska," Leverrier ordered. "Now."

When Hevlaska's glowing tendrils stretched out, Allen felt the sudden tugging on his coat and strong grip, looking back to see Kanda, holding his ground. Not that the white-haired teen was too surprised, he reacted the exact same way when he came face to face with Hevlaska for the first time as well.

He reached down and picked Kanda up, causing him to stiffen, then reached over to Komui, being handed over Mugen with no hesitance.

"Yu, I promise you it isn't scary," he smiled, looking up as Hevlaska as she stopped her movements. "She just wants to make sure that everything is okay. I'll even go with you, if you like."

"Allen Walker, you shouldn't step in without permission-"

"Leverrier," Hevlaska interrupted. "If Yu Kanda feels more comfortable with Allen Walker's presence, then it will make my job in reading the situation easier."

Leverrier's lips turned tight, but he made no comment as Hevlaska continued forwards, picking up both Allen and Kanda, raising them into the air and pressing a tendril against the child's forehead, bringing him closer. Kanda struggled a bit, but Allen calmed him with a squeeze, watching as Hevlaska went quiet.

"Synchronization…" Hevlaska glowed brightly, suddenly withdrawing in surprise. "Synchronization, 100%."

"A Critical?" Komui called up. "That's good, isn't it-"

"It's not that which concerns me," Hevlaska interrupted. "Yu Kanda has 100% synchronization with his equip type, Mugen. But he also has 100% synchronization with a new piece of Innocence, that is in his blood."

Allen paused, staring up at the guardian.

"What…what does that mean?"

"It means a new history has been made," Hevlaska spoke clearly. "And this synchronization with the new Innocence is what caused him to transform into a child. The shock of it must have impacted him heavily."

Allen frowned. He didn't understand too much on what was going on, but one look at Leverrier, he knew that nothing good could come out of his current expression.


	2. Chapter Two: Alma

**Trust**

 **Summary:** After a reaction between Kanda's and a newly retrieved Innocence fragment, the Japanese Exorcist turns into a child. With Leverrier believing that the reaction was caused by betrayal, how was Allen meant to make everyone believe Kanda was innocent? How was he meant to get Kanda to trust him when he could only remember what the Order had put him through?

 **Note:** This story is based just after they move to the new HQ. Allen is suspected of being the 14th, but is no longer being monitored since they have no valid proof against him. Spoilers ahead for the Alma Karma arc, even though this story hasn't gone past it yet.

 **Chapter Two**

 **Alma**

Kanda knew that he couldn't trust any of the people in this organization. Especially that Leverrier bastard. He didn't know him that well, but he had appeared during many of the painful synchronization tests with the _Innocence_.

He hated Innocence and now they were trying to convince him that he had synchronized with two fragments? He was pretty sure he would remember this. Glancing at his hands, he let out a frustrated noise before slipped off of his bed, slamming his hands against the door of the room he had been confined to.

"Oi, bastards!" he snapped, already knowing that they wouldn't respond to him, yet he felt the need to express how pissed off he was. "What the hell is going on? Why am I here? Where...where is _Alma?_ "

No matter how many times he asked, they never answered him. He was beginning to wonder if they had gotten sick of them fighting each other and injuring their workers. He clenched his hands, allowing his fringe to cover his eyes, since the rest of it had been tied back in the most ridiculously stupid ponytail possible— thanks to the white-haired Exorcist. Honestly, what was the point in tying his hair up? It wasn't like it was long enough for it to be a nuisance.

He growled in frustration, raising his leg to kick at the door, only to pause when it suddenly opened, backing away quickly as the spawn of the devil, Leverrier himself, stepped in, along with an older looking male wearing black clothes, eyes hidden by rounded glasses.

"Yu Kanda," he spoke, his tone smooth yet commanding. "Cardinal has requested to examine you, since you are one of the Orders phenomenons."

Kanda grit his teeth in frustration. Who do these people think they were? They had given him a full name and pretty much decided his fate the instant they had left Hevlaska. Everyone had stared at him, whispering in each other's ears, thinking that he wouldn't be able to tell that they were talking about him. Did they think he was stupid?

"If you think I'm going to let you touch me, you've got another thing coming—" though he couldn't do much, the room being too small and the Cardinal already right in front, resting his hand on his head. "—you…"

He fell onto his knees, eyes glazing over as the Cardinal stayed quiet, his hand remaining on black locks, before glancing back at Leverrier, nodding his head.

"A good thing you called me, Leverrier," he murmured. "I've never felt this kind of Innocence before. His body is in this state because the new piece of Innocence has reversed the damage he has caused by using his life force with his equip type."

"So meaning-" before Leverrier could finish, the Cardinal pulled a small silver blade from the inside of his pocket, resting it against Kanda's cheek and cutting it, watching the Innocence spark and heal it within seconds. "His regenerative capabilities are…"

"Far superior than what they were," Cardinal responded, getting to his feet and turning his back on Kanda, who hadn't moved from his position. "He's the perfect weapon to protect the _Heart_."

With that, he left, Leverrier glancing back to watch Kanda collapse face first on the floor, but paid no mind to him as he followed after the Cardinal, the door getting slammed shut.

The Japanese child didn't make a move to get up, the Innocence in his blood crackling under his skin, as if agitated by the contact, then let out a soft laugh, his fingers curling underneath his form.

"Weapon, huh…" his eyes fluttered closed, feeling consciousness leave him. "I'm not...a weapon…"

 **Trust**

"Yu? Yu, can you hear me?" those words seemed achingly familiar, yet he couldn't place his finger on it. Slowly, his eyes opened once more, feeling that he was laying on his back, in someone's arms. It felt oddly…

Warm.

"I'm going to make them pay— they knew you were on the floor but made no move to help you," the concerned tone quickly turned angry and as Kanda focused, he recognised the memorable white hair, along with the scar going over the eye. _Allen Walker_...was it? "How are you feeling? Do you feel weak? Why is there blood on your cheek?"

The questions were starting to do his head in, causing Kanda to sit up abruptly and push away the arms that were helping him, onyx-blue hues catching onto Allen's right arm, the Innocence sparking inside him telling him exactly what his red arm was..

"That...is none of your business," he snapped, causing Allen to blink in confusion at his sudden mood change. "If you came here to ask me nonsensical questions, then just leave. It's not like you give a damn anyway, you fucking-"

"Kanda-I mean, Yu-"

"—Moyashi."

Allen paused, the familiar name rolling off of Kanda's tongue so easily. His brow furrowed and out of habit, he responded.

"My name is Allen, BaKanda!"

They glared at each other, and the guards watching the scene could have sworn that they saw sparks flying between them, causing them to nervously move back. Allen then turned his head away, nose crinkled.

"And I do give a damn! I had to fight tooth and nail to convince Central to let you out of here!" Kanda then froze, looking at the white haired Exorcist questioningly, not really wanting to believe that he went out of his way to get him out of this prison. He watched as the teen extended his hand, a smile crossing his lips. "Come on Yu, we're getting out of here."

He scowled, then glanced to the side, but took his outstretched hands, hissing bitterly.

"Just so you know, I don't like you," he felt himself getting pulled to his feet. "You, or anyone else in this _place_."

"You made it quite clear…" Allen looked thoughtful, then sighed. "...Do you mind if I call you just Kanda? I mean, the...uh...older you doesn't like it when people call you by your first name-"

"Shut up with the drivel," he interrupted, still refusing to look at the white-haired teen. "Call me whatever you want. People seem to have a habit of doing that.

 _Yu. Apostle of God. A weapon._

"So awkward, Kanda," Allen let out a laugh, ignoring the guards as he walked on through with the child. "So I was thinking that we could go to the canteen and get something to eat since it's quiet and then... Kanda, are you even listening to me?

Kanda was silent as he looked around his surroundings, but one thing he did know for sure was...this was not the Asian Branch. Just where on earth was he?

 **Trust**

"This does not look like something I would normally eat."

Kanda's blunt statement made Allen sigh. Jerry had gone out of his way to freshly prepare soba for the Japanese Exorcist, not even once questioning his size, though he did almost get his hands bitten off when he felt the need to squeeze and pull at the temperamental child's cheeks.

"I'm telling you, you loved it before- or at least I think you do, since that was all you ever ate," Allen looked thoughtful, his eyes lighting up as plate after plate of homemade food was placed in front of him. "But if you want, we can order something else?"

"Like hell I'm going to become a gluttonous pig like you," Kanda crinkled his nose, picking up his chopsticks and began to eat. "You won't eat all of that, you're being greedy."

"I've had a lot of people tell me that," Allen answered, before digging in himself, shovelling the food down, only pausing to speak. "It has been a long time since someone has said though."

Kanda paused, watching as he cleared plates within seconds, wondering if this was normal. He made an irritated noise, stabbing the noodles with his chop sticks.

"Earlier," he spoke eventually, catching Allen's attention. "...Earlier, you said you fought tooth and nail to get me out of that cell. Why?"

Allen wiped at his mouth, giving the other an incredulous look, weary that he felt the need to even ask.

"Because we're friends, Kanda," he puffed his cheek out. "Though even if you could remember who I was, you would deny that as well."

Kanda gripped his fists. This bastard, Allen Walker, reminded him far too much of _him_. Did the white-haired Exorcist even know who Alma was? Was Alma still in the Asian Branch?

...Was Alma just another hallucination, like that girl he constantly saw in his dreams?

Out the corner of his eye, Kanda caught sight of someone standing in the shadows, watching them, _monitoring them_. With new resolve, he closed himself off from Allen, knowing that the other was probably telling him these things to gain his trust. So that he would be more compliant. He glared down at the soba down in front of him, his eyes flashing before he picked it up and tossed it to the other side of the room.

"K-Kanda!" Allen spluttered at his sudden action, watching him get to his feet and suddenly storm out. "Wait!"

Screw the Black Order. Screw this Apostle of God shit. Screw _Allen Walker_ and his damn lies.

 **Trust**

"Kanda, you know you don't have to do this if you don't want to, right?"

Kanda felt irritation overtake him again at the _concern_ that laced Allen's tone. He couldn't deny the fact that the other was a very good actor, considering he was close to believing that the concern for his well-being was real. Gripping Mugen in his hands, he glared Allen down.

"Lets face it," he spoke bluntly. "You just don't want to be humiliated by a _child_."

Allen reached up and rested his hand against his face, a soft sigh escaping his lips at Kanda's attitude. He knew the Japanese male was stubborn and difficult, but ever since this occurrence with the Innocence, he was ten times worse.

"Just don't push yourself then," Allen let out another smile. "Lets try and activate your Innocence first."

With ease, Crown Clown was activated, the white cloak covering his form and a mask covering his face, causing Kanda to snort. What kind of Innocence was that? It looked…

So stupid.

"Innocence, _activate_ ," without even realising he done it out of habit, his fingers ran down the blade of his sword, the bright blue glow enveloping it. "Don't underestimate me, you stupid beansprout."

It felt like a hammer had hit Allen's head again. He should be used to this, but it was a different story coming from Kanda when he was currently a child and _smaller_ than him. Quickly, his cloak split in half and separated, then shot straight towards Kanda.

Though he hadn't expected Kanda to react so quickly and block one-half with his sword, the second energy sword appearing in his other hand and blocking the other half. Allen furrowed his brow in thought. Komui told him Kanda probably wouldn't remember how to use his trained techniques, so was this just...instinct?

"Not bad, BaKanda," Allen clicked his tongue. "But you're the one underestimating me."

The two halves of his cloak then split further, moving quickly and binding Kanda to the point he couldn't move. Allen could see the rage flash in his eyes, struggling, but being unable to shake off Crown Clown.

"Come on Kanda, you're not going to be able to fight with that kind of anger-" Allen's eyes suddenly widened as Kanda snarled loudly, Innocence sparking around him and latching onto the Innocence that bound him tightly, travelling up it before Allen could react, freezing in place when he felt like he was getting ripped in two. "Ah-!"

Even though he felt mind-splitting pain, his main concern was on Kanda, who, despite being the one who activated the Innocence in his blood, seemed to be suffering more. It continued for a few moments, Allen feeling pain licking up his skin, but then it stopped when Kanda went slack in his bindings. Immediately letting him go, Allen rushed to his side as he collapsed to the ground, picking the child up and holding him close.

"Kanda? Are you okay, shit-"

"Go die in a damn ditch," was the first response he got, which made Allen feel quite relieved, until he spoke once more before passing out. "Fuck...off...Alma…"

That name had cropped up before, and Allen had no idea who this _Alma_ was. There was no one with such a name at the Order, and he definitely couldn't recall Kanda ever speaking about this person before.

Though he remembered when Kanda first mentioned him, before he could ask who Alma was, Leverrier had cut him off with an order. Deep down in his gut, he felt something was wrong. It would seem that Leverrier didn't want him to know who Alma was.

He would find out who he was. He just had to.


	3. Chapter Three: Night Sky

**Trust**

 **Summary:** After a reaction between Kanda's and a newly retrieved Innocence fragment, the Japanese Exorcist turns into a child. With Leverrier believing that the reaction was caused by betrayal, how was Allen meant to make everyone believe Kanda was innocent? How was he meant to get Kanda to trust him when he could only remember what the Order had put him through?

 **Note:** This story is based just after they move to the new HQ. Allen is suspected of being the 14th, but is no longer being monitored since they have no valid proof against him. Spoilers ahead for the Alma Karma arc, even though this story hasn't gone past it yet.

 **Chapter Three**

 **Night Sky**

Allen knew that Kanda trusted no one, but after witnessing the Head Nurse get kicked in the face, followed by the Japanese child getting pinned down and restrained, he couldn't help but wonder how far that distrust went.

"Kanda, the Head Nurse only wants to check up on you—" Allen barely flinched at the language that spilled out of Kanda's mouth, letting out an exasperated sigh. "You need to calm down-"

"Secret Spell, Binding Wings," Allen's eyes widened as he heard the familiar voice, turning around to see Link standing behind him, releasing multiple spell strips and wrapping them around Kanda, pinning him down to the bed in seconds. "Obey, Yu Kanda."

Allen grit his teeth, having no idea Link even had this ability. He thought he was just a simple inspector. Clenching his hand and moving his hand, fully intending to punching Link across the face, only to feel someone grab hold of it, holding it firm.

"Allen Walker, lashing out against my subordinate will result in you being treated the same way and put in containment. Back down."

Fucking Leverrier.

Allen allowed his arm to relax, shooting his superior a dark look, silver hues hardening as he pulled his hand away from him.

"You can't do this to him," the white-haired teen ground out. "I know he's resisting, but he's just scared! You treat him like-"

"Have you even seen the extent of injuries the medical team have suffered from trying to calm him?" Allen froze in place, a smirk crossing Leverrier's face as he turned to look at the nurses, who tried to immediately hide their injuries from him. "He's dangerous- perhaps more dangerous than _you_."

Kanda stopped his thrashing, trying to catch his breath as his onyx-blue hues focused on the spell strips clinging to his skin, feeling the Innocence spark and then calm, throwing his head back as it pulsed with pain.

' _Everyone… Those of you who haven't awakened...I'm sorry…'_

Kanda's eyes widened a fraction, the voice echoing in his head before they became hazed, wondering why of all times Alma's voice rang in his head.

' _I-It's not as if I'm abandoning you… It's just that… if they put Yu to sleep, I can't bear it!'_

These tags must have some horrible effect on him, since Alma was literally making no sense in his mind. What was he talking about? Why did he have this sudden feeling of dread fill his stomach?

' _I was finally able to become friends with him!'_

Friends… Kanda suddenly let out a laugh, causing everyone in the room to freeze and face him, having not expected the child to act in such a way, considering his predicament.

"You idiot...we just started talking more often, that's all…!" Kanda managed out between his laughs, before quieting down. "Alma…"

Though nothing visibly happened, Kanda felt his back arch upwards at the sudden stabbing pain in the back of his shoulder, though when he turned his head to the side to try and figure out what it was, he saw nothing.

' _If things go well, you'll be able to go outside...maybe…?'_

Alma really made no sense at all. Slowly, Kanda closed his eyes, feeling his energy leave him as he fell unconscious, only just hearing Allen calling out to him, wanting nothing more than to spit some insult at him...but he could do that later.

Allen watched as Link released the incantation, Kanda looking reasonably at peace, turning to face Leverrier, his eyes flickering in rage.

"You know something about Kanda," he seethed, watching as Leverrier's smirk widened. "And you don't want anyone to know about it."

"I don't know what you're trying to imply, Allen Walker-"

"Who the hell is Alma?!" he finally snapped, watching as Link took to Leverrier's side defensively. "Every time Kanda brings up that name, he- he looks _haunted_. So god help me-"

"There is no such person called Alma," Leverrier's tone wasn't to be desired. "He's a _child_. It's probably an imaginary friend."

Allen knew he was lying to him, but it wasn't as if he could rip an answer out of him. He turned away from him, going over to Kanda's side and picking him up gently, seeing as the nurses weren't approaching him.

"I'm taking Kanda to his room to rest," he declared. "Don't even try and stop me."

Allen walked out of the room, Leverrier's eyes glinting as he glanced towards Link.

"Keep monitoring the boy. I don't trust him or Allen Walker."

"Yes, sir."

 **Trust**

When Kanda came to, he let out a groan of discomfort as his eyes opened, sitting up in his bed slowly, his hair curtaining his face. He reached up and brushed it out of the way, his eyes snapping to the side as he saw a familiar white-haired teen sitting in the room.

"Bastard," he spat. "You can't even leave me alone to sleep, can you-"  
But he froze in place when he fully focused on Allen, his blood growing cold as the Innocence in him sparked. It was Allen Walker sitting at his side...but it wasn't.

Allen did not have gold eyes and did not give off this kind of...dark and powerful aura.

Quickly, he reached up and rubbed at his eyes, then looked back at the other, only to be greeted by concerned silver orbs.

"Kanda, you woke up," Allen let out a sigh of relief. "How are you feeling? They were a bit rough with you, weren't they?"

"Stop acting," Kanda rolled his eyes, instinctively inching away from Allen, pressing himself against the wall. "You're like the rest of the scum. You all lie."

Allen bit the inside of his cheek but didn't make a comment, glancing around Kanda's bare room, his gaze resting on an empty hourglass for a few moments before returning to the child.

"Don't be like that, Kanda," Allen then let out a laugh, trying to lighten the mood. "Anyway, I think we should do something, since you've been under a great deal of stress. What kind of things do you like doing?"

What did he like doing? Was this a trick question? Kanda furrowed his brow, thinking about it, his mind drawing a black as he glanced down. If the offer of doing something he wanted to do was genuine, then…

"I…" Kanda's throat suddenly tightened, gripping at the sheets as he fixed his stare on the sheets. "I want to see it. It's vast and blue and…"

"Vast and blue…?" Allen repeated slowly, trying to think about what he was talking about. "The sky? You want to see the sky?"

Is that what they called it? Kanda nodded his head, though he wasn't sure if Allen knew what he was talking about with such a lame description. The white-haired teen gave a smile, then offered Kanda his hand.

"It's not daytime at the moment, so the sky won't be blue, but…" Allen gave another smile. "It's clear, so the stars will be out."

Stars? Reluctantly, he reached over and took hold of Allen's hand, allowing him to help him out of bed, pausing when the other shrugged off his black coat and covered him with it, rolling up the sleeves so that it fit a little better.

"It's cold outside, so wear this," Allen explained. "I wouldn't want you to get sick- though I don't know if you can get sick...I've never really seen you take ill, Kanda."

Memories of being told off for not wearing warm clothes by the pools of sleeping apostles crossed Kanda's mind, but he brushed it to the side when Allen took a hold of his hand and let him out of the room, walking down long, confusing hallways and up the stairs.

Though there was an elevator, Allen didn't want to use it, having a feeling that the use of it was being monitored and he sure as hell didn't want Leverrier to question him why he had taken Kanda out of his room.

"Where are we going, Moyashi?" Kanda questioned, his bare feet feeling dirty from walking up so many flights of stairs. "I thought we were going to see the sky."

"We are," Allen reassured. "But to see it we need to get to the garden on the roof. You like it up there Kanda- well, the older you."

He was still going on about his older self. It made no sense, so Kanda didn't make a comment as they reached the top and stopped at a door, Allen pushing it open slowly, urging the other to step through by himself.

And when he did, he froze in place, his eyes taking in all the greenery surrounding him, then looked up quickly. It wasn't blue, but it was the same thing he had dreamed about. Pure black, but with small glowing lights scattering across it.

"Those are stars, Kanda," Allen told him, watching as Kanda's expression turned to awe. "They only come out at night, while the sky turns blue during the day- weather permitting."

"Weather permitting?" Kanda questioned, his gaze never leaving the sky. "What do you mean?"

Allen didn't know how to respond to his question since it sounded like Kanda had never once stepped outside before in his life. He kneeled down beside him, resting his red hand on Kanda's shoulder, then tried to explain to him what he meant.

"Sometimes, the sky can be cloudy," Allen's tone was soft, watching as Kanda turned to stare at him, listening intently. "And when it's cloudy, it can sometimes rain. When it rains, water falls from the sky. You also get snow, which is when white flakes fall. The sky is blue when the sun comes out. You can get thunder and lightening, which is pretty loud and lights up the sky in flashes."

Kanda was amazed. How could something show so many different things? He restrained a smile that wanted to cross his face, a small shiver escaping him when he realised how cold his feet were, which led to Allen leading him over to one of the garden benches and sitting him on it, taking off his shoes and covering his feet, even though they hung off Kanda's heels because they were too big.

"Will I…" he trailed off, fidgeting slightly. "Will I get to see the sky when it changes then?"

"Of course," Allen responded without hesitation, staring at Kanda intently. "You can see it whenever you want Kan— a-are you crying Kanda?!"

"No," he muttered, reaching up and wiping at his eyes quickly. "Something got in them. I'm not crying."

At the fail of a cover-up, Allen felt the horrible feeling that had formed in his gut lifting, glancing up towards the sky, though got distracted at the weight he felt on his side. Looking back, he saw Kanda leaning against him, eyes closed. He seemed content.

'Alma…' Kanda thought, feeling Allen's arm wrap around him, but didn't shake it off. '...I wish you could see the sky too. It's better than in my dreams.'

He felt himself relax, despite the fact that he had vowed never to trust Allen Walker, no matter what. But maybe he should reconsider his decision since the other didn't seem to want to keep him imprisoned.

Maybe something good could come out of this place. He slowly drifted off into a peaceful sleep, not hearing Allen as he spoke to him.

"Kanda, look! A shooting star-" when he finally noticed that Kanda was asleep, he let out a sigh. "BaKanda, you just had to fall asleep and miss that…"

He picked him up and held him close, walking and taking him back to his room so he could sleep in comfort. Yet he completely failed in noticing the watchful eyes of Link, who was writing down their every movement...


	4. Chapter Four: Lavi and Lenalee

**Trust**

 **Summary:** After a reaction between Kanda's and a newly retrieved Innocence fragment, the Japanese Exorcist turns into a child. With Leverrier believing that the reaction was caused by betrayal, how was Allen meant to make everyone believe Kanda was innocent? How was he meant to get Kanda to trust him when he could only remember what the Order had put him through?

 **Chapter Four**

 **Lavi and Lenalee**

"How many times do I need to tell you, stupid beansprout, that I have no desire to meet them?"

Allen let out a soft sigh, leading Kanda down one of the many long hallways leading to Komui's office, reaching up and scratching the back of his head.

"Lenalee and Lavi would like to see you, you know…" the white-haired teen murmured. "They were your friends too."

That struck a nerve in Kanda, shooting the other a dark look, muttering under his breath as he folded his arms. Just before, he had gotten measured for a new Exorcist costume, and he was forced to ignore the hushed conversation about him in the background...he felt like he was being mocked. And these people were supposedly his _friends_...they would most like whisper in each other's ears as well.

They stopped outside Komui's office, Allen resting a reassuring hand on the child's shoulder, before he froze at the loud shouting at the other side of the door, managing to feel the rage of a certain female Exorcist even though he couldn't see her.

"What do you mean? What on earth did you do to Kanda, Nii-san?!" Lenalee Lee was more than pissed. Another voice followed, albeit calmer, but it still didn't sound like Lavi Bookman had taken the news too well either.

"Komui, are you messing with us again? Is this one of your stupid inventions again? There is no way in hell that Yu is a child, you must have hit your head off of something-"

Both Lavi and Lenalee turned their heads when the office door suddenly got kicked down by a quick-tempered Kanda, Allen standing stunned next to him, leaning to a string of curses leaving the Japanese boy's mouth, causing the red-headed and female Exorcist to stand dumbstruck.

"I swear to fuck, if I catch you talking about me behind my back again, you delusional bastard, I won't hesitate to slice you in half with Mugen until you're not recognisable anymore-!"

"K-Kanda-?" Lenalee's voice came out in a squeak, and Allen didn't know if this was a good sign or not. He and Lenalee were close, but even he couldn't tell how she would react to seeing Kanda as a child. "Oh my goodness, you're just so-"

Lenalee kneeled down in front of Kanda, reaching over and pinching his cheeks, a bright smile crossing her face as she gushed happily.

"Adorable!"

Allen twitched, unsure on what to do, since Kanda usually didn't tolerate anyone touching him at all, but the Japanese Exorcist was staring wide-eyed at Lenalee, his cheeks spread out as he made incoherent noises.

Lavi turned to stare at Allen, his lone emerald hue sparking in curiosity, then he raised a gloved hand, a grin crossing his face.

"Yo, Allen," Lavi spoke, settled his hands behind his head. "I didn't expect to come back to this, ya know. I thought I was going to get a break, but I'm going to have to record this for the old Panda-"

Allen then watched as Lavi got kicked across the face by the man in question, always amazed at how such a small man could connect to Lavi's face, considering Lavi was quite tall. He had to hold back a laugh, then watched as Lenalee eventually let go of Kanda, her cheerfulness dying down as a worried expression crossed her face.

"But how did this happen to you, Kanda? I really did think Nii-san was messing with me-" she completely ignored Komui as he tried to explain himself, smiling sweetly. "So why don't you tell me what happened yourself, Kanda?"

"How the fuck should I know?" Lenalee blinked at his snappy response. "All I know was that I woke up here, your supposed _brother_ spills a bunch of bullshit about how Innocence reacted to Mugen and turned me into a child and that I lost most of my memories, and then-"

Lenalee closed her eyes, his voice drowning out slightly as she tried to process the information. So Kanda was now a child once again, with no memories of The Order, at least, the Europe Branch, and didn't know who any of them were? Considering the circumstances, Lenalee was surprised he was so...calm.

"Well, my name is Lenalee Lee," she spoke, deciding to take it all into stride, watching the dumbfounded look on Kanda's face. "Over there, lying on the ground is Lavi Bookman."

"L-Lenalee, I would have introduced myself-" Lavi complained, only to get riled up by Allen snickering.

"Sure you would have," he chortled. "Or you're going to die from blood loss from getting kicked by the-"

Within seconds, Allen was laying on the ground next to Lavi, cupping a bleeding nose and claiming he was dying, which caused Lenalee to sigh loudly, covering her face.

"Honestly, you guys…" she then let out a soft laugh, shaking her head. "I missed this. I'm glad I'm home."

 _Home_.

Kanda looked over towards Lavi and Allen and despite being in pain, they both laughed as well, rolling onto their sides. His eyes clouded as he glanced away, biting at the side of his cheek. Was this was Allen Walker kept rambling on about? _Friendship?_

He didn't know whether or not the clenching in his stomach was jealousy or the need to throw up.

 **Trust**

"Leave it up to Allen not to take care of you properly!" Kanda watched as Lenalee circled around him, sitting on a stool rigidly, staring at a comb that sat in her right hand, scissors in the other. "Of course, you would normally do this yourself, but it looks like you haven't had your hair trimmed in a while, Kanda. It's long, but it's not as long as it used to be…"

"Wouldn't having it long be a nuisance?" Kanda spoke, immediately comparing his own hair to Lenalee's. "Your hair is shorter than mine, after all."

Lenalee blinked at his comment, placing the comb down and reaching up towards her own hair, a bitter smile crossing her lips as she shook her hair.

"My hair used to be very long, Kanda," she answered, kneeling beside him. "But...something happened with my Innocence, and I lost most of it. I'm trying to grow it back— though truth be told, my hair will never be as beautiful as yours, no matter how hard I try with it."

Kanda didn't know whether or not he should feel insulted at her comment since _beautiful_ was not how he would describe his hair. He reached up and fiddled with the ends, scowling as Lenalee moved to pick up the comb she had placed down.

"It's up to you how you want it though, Kanda," Lenalee added, seeing his conflicted expression. "I think you suit it longer, but if you want it short, I'll cut it like that."

Kanda was quick to shake his head, the thought of having it cut shorter completely erased from his mind. As strange as it sounded, he...kind of liked the thought of being a little like the way they… _remembered_ him.

"I'll keep it long," he huffed quietly, unaware of Lenalee's amused smile on him as he bowed his head. "I can just tie it up if it gets annoying."

The female Exorcist nodded her head, then stood behind Kanda, brushing a comb gently through his hair, feeling him stiffen and relax as she worked out the knots and tangles, smoothing the locks out. She fiddled with it slightly, bending the comb as she worked out how much she going to trim off, then reached for the scissors and started snipping away, acknowledging that Kanda was ignoring the hair that fell to the ground.

"Your hair is so thick, Kanda," she commented, moving to the child's side, in a crouched position as she continued to cut. "And so healthy."

"I thought you were trimming it because-"

"Just because you have dead ends doesn't mean that your hair isn't healthy," she giggled. "Sometimes you need to trim your hair so that your hair doesn't split at the ends."

Kanda furrowed his brow, closing his eyes when she faced him, starting on his fringe, her fingertips brushing against his skin, making him still.

"Why...are you even bothering to cut my hair?"

"Huh?" Lenalee continued, despite being taken back by the question. "Why wouldn't I cut your hair?"

"Like…" Kanda made a gesture with his hand unconsciously, unsure on how to explain himself. "You...just finished a mission of sorts. Don't you want to rest? Spend time with your... _friends_."

He felt his throat grow dry, perhaps being too obvious in his comment. Lenalee didn't make a comment on it, eventually pulling away from Kanda when she was finished with her hair, her tone as cheerful as ever.

"What are you talking about? I'm spending time with my friends," she placed her hands and pouted slightly. "You're my friend too, Kanda."

There was that cursed feeling again. That warm feeling in his chest. He could somewhat tell why Alma kept ranting on about having friends...he liked this feeling. Kanda felt perturbed by it.

"Thank you," he mumbled, refusing to glance back up at her. "For cutting my hair."

He had to remember that he couldn't trust these people, no matter how nice they were being to him. They were probably instructed to. This...this couldn't be real.

 **Trust**

"I'm a Bookman, you see," Lavi explained, writing down notes at a table, aware that Kanda was sitting in an armchair behind him, watching the fire as he listened. "It's my job to record history in an unbiased way—but boy, it can be difficult sometimes!"

"Difficult?" Kanda questioned, his gaze never leaving the fire. "It doesn't sound like a difficult job."

"Well…" Lavi coughed, turning in his seat to look at Kanda, his arm draped over the back of it. "The old Panda tells me off for letting my emotions mess with my recordings. I guess it's hard since I have a habit of throwing my Bookman duties to the wind when it comes to my friends."

"Then you're an idiot," Kanda spoke dryly, turning his head to catch Lavi doing a dramatic hurt gesture. "If that's your job, then you should do it properly. You don't need friends."

"Why is that, Yu?" Lavi shot back, his emerald eye analyzing Kanda's every move, noticing the small tense and the fidget, yet the child's expression remained cold as he thought. "Without friends, I think I would have gone insane from everything I've witnessed so far."

"Then you're just weak," Kanda spoke irritably, clenching his fists. "These friends that you all keep rambling on about are annoying and get in the way."

Lavi's eye flickered, taking note of his cold attitude, before he decided to change the subject, seeing as it was starting to get on Kanda's nerves.

"The second Innocence Fragment that's in your body," Lavi casually brought up, watching the scowl appear on the Japanese Exorcists face. "I know you've managed to activate it when sparring with Allen, but can you activate it freely?"

"...No," Kanda responded, gritting his teeth before calming himself. "I never activated it. It activated itself."

"Oh?" Lavi had come to understand that some Innocence had a mind of its own, mainly with Allen's and Lenalee's saving them from death. "How were you feeling when it activated then?"

"Did you invite me here to interrogate me, bastard?" Kanda bit out, but paused when Lavi just responded with a smile, as if used to his behaviour. He turned his attention back to the fire. "...I was caught in that stupid Clown Cloak thing. I…"

"Did you panic Yu?" Lavi asked, knowing that the other wouldn't respond to him. "It could have activated to protect you, ya know."

"Like hell it did," he spat, catching Lavi by surprise then. "I don't know how you people can look up to Innocence. If I really was older than what I am now, then why did it turn me into a child? Why did it make me forget? Why does it hurt me? I don't-"

Kanda reached up and clutched at his head, shaking his head as Alma's voice echoed cheerily in his head, talking about what he had for breakfast that day. Why did that idiot's voice have to crop up at the most inconvenient times?

"Yu, are you in pain?" Lavi got up from his seat, noticing Kanda bow over, still clutching his head. "Oi, maybe I should take you to the medical wing- Yu!"

He only moved fast enough to catch Kanda as he fell forwards, but when he turned him around to see if he was alright, the child was fast asleep, looking oddly peaceful. Lavi blinked, unsure on how to take what he just saw, but lifted him, deciding that a trip to see the nurse wouldn't hurt.

 **Trust**

"Took you long enough to show up, brat."

"Well, how quickly do you expect me to show up when you demand out of the blue to see me? I didn't even know you were at the Order, _Master_ ," Allen's tone was neutral, but Cross Marian could tell that his stupid was pissed. Surrounding them were CROWS, monitoring their conversation since they still weren't permitted to talk alone. "Are you finally going to tell me what's going on?"

"There isn't really much for me to say," Cross responded, taking a long drag of his cigarette. "I'm just going to assume that you already know that you are the host to the Fourteenth."

"Master, not you too-"

"Are you trying to tell me that you haven't even noticed his presence yet?" the General cut him off, watching Allen stiffen. "You knew the song, stupid apprentice, and that song was one of the Fourteenth's memories."

"That's not-"

"You're in denial, boy," Cross spoke, turning to face him, his expression unchanging. "Eventually, the Fourteenth's memories will overcome your being- and you, Allen Walker, will cease to exist."

"Shut up," Allen ground out. "You can say whatever you want, but I won't let-"

Allen's eyes widened when Cross suddenly wrapped his arm around him, pulling him close and embracing him.

"If it means anything to you, I didn't wish for it to happen this way," Cross murmured. "But the Fourteenth didn't have the time to be picky with his host."

Allen was oddly calm, despite what he was being told, stilling when Cross pulled away from him, making his way towards the door.

"Though I don't want to tell you, but when the Fourteenth takes over, you'll be forced to kill someone you care dearly about."

Allen's eyes widened, before he grit his teeth, whipping around to face Cross, trying to control his anger.

"What do you mean, I'll be forced to kill someone I care about?" when he got no response, he tried to follow after the General, but the CROWS stopped him in his place. "Answer me! Master! MASTER!"

The door slammed shut, and Allen was once again left with questions no one would give him the answer to.


	5. Chapter Five: Phantom Thief G

**Trust**

 **Summary:** After a reaction between Kanda's and a newly retrieved Innocence fragment, the Japanese Exorcist turns into a child. With Leverrier believing that the reaction was caused by betrayal, how was Allen meant to make everyone believe Kanda was innocent? How was he meant to get Kanda to trust him when he could only remember what the Order had put him through?

 **Chapter Five**

 **Phantom Thief G**

"And you're saying he just...passed out?" Lenalee confirmed, not really believing Lavi's story as she covered Kanda up with a blanket, staring at his peaceful face. "The nurse said she couldn't find anything wrong, so…"

"Well, he _is_ just a kid-gah!" Lavi hopped on one leg as the Chinese Exorcist swiftly kicked him in the shin. "What was that for! I was just saying that he was probably just tired—"

"A child or not, don't make it sound like you're mocking him, Lavi," she scolded folding her arms. "If Kanda were to hear you say that, he'd slice you into a million pieces."

"No he wouldn't," Lavi then settled down, standing on both legs once more. "He's seriously convinced that he is a child. He doesn't remember _anything_ -"

"Don't remind me," Lenalee cut in, reaching over and brushing some hair away from Kanda's face. "I...really want Kanda to remember us…"

Lavi paused, coming to realise that Lenalee was crying, a twinge of guilt curling in his stomach. Out of all of them, Lenalee was probably the most hurt. She considered Kanda as... _family_. Like an older brother.

"He will remember," Lavi tried to soothe. "Just give him some time."

Lenalee nodded her head, turning her attention to the door as it swung open, Allen walking in, out of breath.

"Hah…" he glanced at his best friends, wiping at his head. "I came straight here when Komui told me Kanda was brought here- is everything okay?"

"The kid's taking a nap- OW!" Allen was as Lenalee kicked Lavi's shin again, then heard Lavi cough. "He got a pretty bad headache and passed out. I'm sure he was just tired of...thinking."

"Thinking?" Allen blinked, looking over at Kanda. "About what?"

"Friendship," Lavi responded. "I'm guessing that was on his mind. He doesn't really trust us, does he?"

Allen came over to stand by them, a smile on his face as he patted both their backs.

"It's BaKanda, he probably never trusted us to begin with," he mused. "Anyway, after I spoke to Komui regarding Master, he told me that he wants me to take Kanda along on a mission with Marie."

"Is that really a good idea?" Lenalee asked, furrowing her brow. "Can Kanda even defend himself in this state-"

"He can," Allen confirmed, nodding his head. "Even though he can't remember, he seems to fight from instinct. It's...hard to explain really."

"How am I meant to keep records of things when you're not good at explaining them, Allen?" Lavi rolled his lone eye. "What kind of mission is it?"

"Hmm...it's regarding a thief," Allen looked thoughtful. "It's strange because all of his supposed accomplices don't remember how they ended up helping him. Some of them were finders as well, so Komui wants us to investigate it."

"Well, that doesn't seem too difficult," Lenalee said cheerfully, looking relieved. "I wouldn't want Kanda fighting Akuma-"

"If I were to fight Akuma, they wouldn't stand a chance," they all looked around when they heard Kanda's voice, watching him sit up and rub his head. "Though I don't get why you need to hunt down a petty thief."

"It could be related to Innocence," Lenalee mused, Lavi nodding his head in agreement. "Or else I don't see why the Order would get involved…"

"Innocence does cause some strange phenomenon's-" Allen's gaze flickered on Tim, who suddenly fluttered about like mad, then dashed out of the room. "Tim? What's wrong?"

Kanda watched the golem fly out the room, before jumping out of his bed and chasing after it, Allen stopping Lenalee and Lavi from stopping him.

"You guys wait here," Allen spoke, furrowing his brow. "I'll get Kanda. If we all follow him then he'll get annoyed."

"But-"

"Alright," Lavi agreed, then looked thoughtful. "Though I wonder why he felt the need to follow Tim? Does he even like the little guy?"

Allen shrugged, then ran out the room after him.

"Kanda, wait!"

 **Trust**

He didn't know why he had followed the golem. The Innocence in his blood and sparked, almost _demanding_ that he followed— and he had without hesitation.

He came to a door that was ajar, stopping and poking his head around before freezing in place.

Inside the room stood Leverrier, his loyal dog Link and Komui, surrounding a shattered window that was splattered with blood. He held his breath, not wanting himself to be noticed but knew he was caught when he heard a familiar voice speak behind him.

"Is that...blood?" all heads in the room turned to see Allen Walker standing directly behind Kanda, looking wide-eyed. "Whose...blood…?"

Silver hues caught onto Timcanpy, who was now by the window, landing on top of a damaged mask. The mask of Cross Marian.

Kanda watched the white-haired teen tense, then glanced back as Komui spoke, concern lacing his voice at Allen's...lack of reaction.

"Allen-"

"Are you fucking stupid?" Kanda cut in, eyes narrowed. "Why on earth would you leave the door open for everyone to damn see?"

"The question is, how did you _both_ know to come to this room at this time?" Leverrier commented, causing Kanda to narrow his eyes. This bastard was quick to change the subject, wasn't he?

"Timcanpy was acting strange so we followed after him-"

"You, I can understand, being the owner of the golem Allen Walker," Link cut him off, Kanda feeling the need to unsheathe Mugen and slit his throat as the accusing glare he received. "Yu Kanda, on the other hand, had no reason to be following Timcan-"

"If I didn't know better, it was almost as if Yu Kanda…" Leverrier trailed off, a smirk gracing his lips. "Knows exactly what happened in this room."

Before he could reach down and grab Mugen's hilt, Allen was quick to rest his hand on Kanda's shoulder, his silver hues growing cold.

"I don't think you should jump to such implications," Allen sniped, his grip on the Japanese Exorcist's shoulder tightening. "Kanda had no involvement in this. He's been with me, Lenalee and Lavi the entire time, if you want witnesses."

"Yes," Komui added, nodding his head. "Not to mention that Kanda has been unconscious and in the medical ward for a few hours now…"

He trailed off, watching as Leverrier turned his back on the two of them, his tone sharp.

"Don't you have a mission you need to attend to, Walker?" Leverrier's attention was fully on the window now. "I trust that you'll keep this to yourself. I don't want this getting out."

Allen never spoke a word, his grip never leaving Kanda's shoulder as he turned to leave with him. Kanda glanced up, but couldn't read the white-haired boy's expression at all.

"Moyashi," he tried to speak to him but Allen didn't answer. They walked down the hallway and eventually stopped in front of Kanda's room, which prompted him to try and talk again. "Allen-"

"Don't call me Allen," his tone was somewhat bitter before he let out a strained laugh. "You never call me Allen. I just...need some time to think...so could you just...stay in your room so Leverrier doesn't find a reason to put blame on you…?"

Kanda pursed his lips, unable to bring himself to argue as he reached up and opened the door to his room, listening to it swing open with a dull crack. He stepped inside, but before he closed the door he looked back at Allen, whose white hair was covering his eyes, hiding his emotions.

"Good night, Kanda."

With that, Kanda shut the door, half stunned. He rested his back against the door, glancing at his hands, which clenched as he felt the Innocence spark again. Eventually, he moved away from the door and flopped down on his face, biting the inside of his cheek, growling lowly.

"Why must you get in the way of everything I do?" he spoke to himself, his gaze focusing on his hands again. "I…"

 _'Eh, they're putting you through the synchronization with the Innocence too, Yu?'_

Kanda sat up abruptly at hearing the voice, then let out a slow breath when he realised that it was in his head. His eyes flickered as he listened to Alma laugh obnoxiously, unable to get the idiot that was determined to cling to his side out of his head.

' _Yu...no way! Were you crying too?'_

"...Maybe…"

 _'Haha, I knew it- don't give me that look- OW! YU, THAT HURT!'_ Kanda couldn't help it when his lips twitched into a slight smile, laying back down in bed and closing his eyes.

"Because you fucking deserved it, you loon."

With that, he fell asleep, forgetting where he was for a brief moment, which had settled him down.

 **Trust**

"Tim…" Allen groaned softly, pulling at his golem's cheek face, then let him go. "Gah! No matter how many times I listen to it, it just sounds like Masters will."

"Isn't that just what it is?" came the response of Howard Link, who was sitting beside Allen on top of a museum roof in Paris, eating a donut. "Because that's what it sounds like."

"But it's not something Master would do!" responded Allen, exasperated. "Master is the kind of person who would-"

"Moyashi, if you don't shut the fuck up, I'm going to go up there and silence you myself," came the sudden voice of Kanda, speaking through the communication device he had been supplied with. "And why do I have to be down here with this guy? I don't even-"

"Oi, Link, can I have the last donut?"

"How many of them have you had walker-?" Kanda was close to going up and silencing Allen anyway for ignoring him, but paused when the Exorcist beside him spoke.

"Seems like you've gotten to attached to Allen, it seems," came the voice of Noise Marie, who sounded pleased. "Please be patient, the instant we catch the thief we can be on our way."

Kanda resisted making a snappy comment, letting out a soft sigh as he stared at the museum at hand. They were here to capture some petty man who called himself Phantom Thief G, who had managed to steal many precious and expensive items without being caught and who had made an announcement that he would be stealing a crown from this very museum.

"Anyway," Kanda glanced at Marie, who turned his face to look at him, despite the fact he couldn't see. "Why would someone _announce to the world_ that they are going to steal something? It's like they want to get caught."

"Or it's a tactic to get under the skin of the police," Marie mused, raising his hand to his ear and then nodding. "Speaking of which, the alarm was just triggered. Kanda, he's running out the main entrance to the left-"

Though before Marie could finish, Kanda had already moved quickly, pulling out Mugen and using the unsheathed sword to knock over the Thief, who was wearing the most ridiculous looking garb possible, skipping and taunting the police backwards, not even noticing him, which resulted in a strangled yelp when he fell.

"Some thief you are," Kanda grumbled, catching the crown as it went flying through the air. "Completely useless."

"W-Wha- you can't be with the police! You're just a kid-" Kanda pointed Mugen at him, his eyes glinting darkly. "Eep!"

"Kanda, be careful with that crown," Allen's voice came out, sounding like he was going to be sick. "It's worth about ten times the amount of debt I'm in because of Master…and that's an amount I will _never_ be able to pay back."

"Shut up Moyashi," Kanda glanced back to the police, who were rushing out. He tossed the crown towards them, watching them all leap for it. "I'm taking this bastard with me, so take your damn crown."

Kanda grabbed the guy by the ball-like hood of his costume, but stopped when the mask fell off, a startled voice speaking.

"W-Where am I…?" the man spoke, his tone becoming high pitched. "Why am I wearing this outfit?!"

Allen glanced over the man who had caught the crown, only to notice it wasn't in his possession anymore. Both his and Link's attention was brought to the other side of the roof, where another man wearing the stupid G costume was taunting once more, holding the crown in his hands.

"I told you already! You can't catch me-AH!" Allen was quick to kick him in the gut, sending him flying and then bolted after the flying crown, throwing himself across the roof to catch it, letting out a sigh of relief.

"Oh good…" Allen examined the crown closely. "It looks like there's no damage to it Link-Link?!"

Allen rolled out of the way quickly to avoid a blade getting plunged into his neck, silver orbs widening as he got to his feet, activating Crown Clown. He stared at the Inspector- and knew straight away that it wasn't Link, despite it being his body.

"Cool!" Link was examining his arms, where twin blades were. "Who the hell is this guy? He's so overpowered compared to the others!"

"You-" Allen paused when he saw Kanda jumping up the other side of the roof, blinking in surprise at how high the child could jump, then called out. "Kanda, stop aiming for his head-!"

Link then whipped around, Kanda's eyes growing close at the wide smirk that was present on the blonde's face, slashing his sword down, only to get surrounded with binding tags.

"Shit," he felt the Innocence in his blood spark and he managed to jump out of the encirclement before it exploded, landing beside Allen, who stuck an arm in front of him defensively. "Moyashi-"

"Careful Kanda," Allen warned. "I don't believe in ghosts, but something is definitely possessing him."

"Well done for stating the obvious, dumb-ass," Kanda spat. "He's a CROW, so we can rough him up a little bit."

Allen let out a smile at Kanda's haughty response, turning his arm into the sword of Exorcism, finally moving out of the Japanese Exorcist's way.

"Just don't kill him," Allen reminded. "I wouldn't know how to explain that one."

Kanda merely smirked, activating his double swords, then charged towards Link, who dodged with ease, only to get caught in Allen's Crown Clown belt against one of the chimney's.

"Never fought a serious fight before, thief?" Kanda taunted, running towards him and slashing down, listening to the squeal as Link dodged out of the way, only for Allen to drag him with the belt and quickly pierce him with the Exorcism sword.

"W-What is...this…" Link glanced down, seeing the sword protruding through his stomach, Allen giving a creepy smile as he spoke smoothly.

"It's a sword...and it has gone right through you…" Allen responded, watching as Link went quickly into hysterics, making him feel slightly bad. Maybe he should tell him that his sword can't actually harm humans-?

"Y-You murdererrrrr!" Link wailed, Allen's expression going blank at the ridiculous cry. "You killed me! Pweeehhhh! Pweeeehhhh!"

Was this guy being serious? He tried to calm him down, but had to catch Link as he collapsed back, his expression growing dazed before returning to a more Link-ish expression.

"Allen Walker…?" he glanced down, seeing the sword, a vein popping in his forehead. "Care to tell me why you've stabbed me Walker…?!"

"A-Ah, it's not what it looks like-"

"It's exactly what it looks like, he stabbed you," Kanda interrupted, causing Allen to look up at him in surprise. It was then that he saw Kanda's head bowed, his hands gripping onto his blades. "He stabbed you without hesitation...so you shouldn't really trust him."

Link stared at Kanda, trying to figure out what on earth he meant, then Allen pulled the sword out of him, making an irritated noise, pointing his sword at him.

"BaKanda! How could you let yourself get possessed? You idiot! I told you to be careful, but you still-"

"I told you, I wasn't going to get caught," Kanda answered, snickering loudly, raising his head. "And I definitely won't get caught by scum like you."

Allen felt his blood turn cold as Kanda rushed towards him to attack, blocking his swords with his own and growling.

"You're the one who is scum here," Allen snapped back. "Everyone you've possessed so far has had their lives ruined because of this 'Phantom Thief G' bullshit you've been pulling...and there is no way in hell I'm letting you do the same thing to BaKanda!"

And so, they fought, Link still half-stunned as to what was going on as Marie joined his side, dragging him out of the way.

Allen Walker and Yu Kanda fighting in such a way could never be a good thing.


	6. Chapter Six: Timothy

**Trust**

 **Summary:** After a reaction between Kanda's and a newly retrieved Innocence fragment, the Japanese Exorcist turns into a child. With Leverrier believing that the reaction was caused by betrayal, how was Allen meant to make everyone believe Kanda was innocent? How was he meant to get Kanda to trust him when he could only remember what the Order had put him through?

 **Chapter Six**

 **Timothy**

Sword clashed sword, Marie and Link only just managing to get the Paris police to stay away from the scene, since they wanted to go in and stop the fight was was happening on top of their museum.

"If what you're saying is true," Galmar, the chief of police, growled. "Phantom Thief G is currently in the body of that child! If we can isolate him from people then-"

"How many times have we told you that it doesn't matter?" Link spoke calmly, staring at the chief before letting out a sigh. "It seems that the thief has the ability to possess anyone he looks at, so if you grab Yu Kanda, then he'll probably just swap to someone else."

"Hm," Marie nodded his head, watching the fight from afar. "Though is this a fair fight? Allen won't attack Kanda full on, so-"

"We'll just have to wait and see how it plays it," Link responded, shrugging off the police officers that were intent on questioning him. "Keep listening, the thief could be nearby."

On the roof, Allen was in the middle of blocking Kanda's double swords, feeling his feet getting scraped back from the amount of force Kanda was putting into each strike, calling out to him angrily.

"BaKanda, are you really going to let someone control you like this?" he shouted, watching as Kanda twisted as he jumped, the slashes coming down so fast that Allen was almost unable to counter them. "Snap out of it! If you're going to kill me, at least do it of your own will!"

"He can't hear you," Kanda smirked widely, jumping back and crossing his blades, getting ready for a mantis slice. "When I possess someone, it's like they're sleeping."

Allen grit his teeth, then pointed his sword of Exorcism at him.

"Then I'll just have to wake him up-" Allen paused when Kanda stilled, watching him drop Mugen onto the ground. "...Kanda?"

"What...what is this?" Kanda let out a shaky laugh, then looked up at Allen. "Are you sure he wasn't possessed before I got in him? This doesn't feel normal —"

Before Allen could question what he meant, he felt a sudden pulse of energy, seeing Innocence crackle across Kanda's skin, the memory of how the Innocence had electrocuted Kanda every time it had activated.

"Get out of his body now!" Allen demanded suddenly, running towards Kanda. "Or the Innocence will-"

Energy flared and Kanda was engulfed in green light, the white-haired boy hearing some noise that he could only identify as pain— and then silence before the roof cracked and crumbled under the force the Innocence was pushing out. He shielded his eyes and when he uncovered them, he only just seen Kanda fall through the roof and inside the museum, shouting after him.

"KANDA!"

 **Trust**

' _Heavy_ , _'_ was the first thing that came to Kanda's mind as he slowly regained consciousness, coughing softly at the feeling of dust catching in his throat. _'...and warm...am I bleeding?'_

He wanted to laugh at himself, closing his eyes. Even if he was bleeding, what would it matter? It would heal up like it had any other time. When he reopened his onyx-blue hues, he tried to figure out where he was but could only see small rays of light, attempting to move his limbs but the weight that was on top of them made it impossible.

' _...Am I buried? Under what?'_ he tried to recall what he done last, then rolled his eyes. He could remember Allen Walker stabbing Howard Link with that oversized sword- but then, everything went blank. He closed his eyes, his light-headedness encouraging him to rest- though they opened immediately after receiving a small shock from the Innocence inside him. _'...the little fucker-'_

"KANDA!" his attention was brought to his, reluctant as he was to accept it, name being called out, none other by Allen Walker himself. "Kanda! Can you hear me? I'm going to get you out of there, alright?"

Kanda made no move to respond, hearing what sounded to be rubble getting thrown to the side. He felt like he was going to slice the white-haired exorcist up if he didn't shut up-

His fingers twitched with the realisation that Mugen was not with him. His eyes flashed as he tried to move, muscles protesting, then froze when he heard a voice ring in his head, a woman's voice.

' _ **You know, if you just asked for my help then I could get you out of here,'**_ Kanda snarled, his gut already telling him that it was the Innocence that was talking to him. _**'You didn't ask for my help before, but I really couldn't tolerate another Innocence user manipulating you. After all, Innocence isn't meant to harm other humans.'**_

"So you claim," Kanda spat, his voice hoarse. "But you've done nothing but hurt me since I learned of your existence."

 _ **'You've done nothing but hurt yourself,'**_ the Innocence retorted. _**'Every time you've been in pain because of me is because you've tried to reject my existence. If you would just accept-'**_

"Like hell I will, fuck off!" he bit out, straining himself as he tried to push what was crushing him off. "And get the fuck out of my body-"

 _ **'Suit yourself,'**_ the Innocence's tone sounded dry. _**'Keep trying to ignore my existence all you want Yu, but I'm not leaving any time soon.'**_

With that, the Innocence went quiet, Kanda about to spit a line of curses until he got distracted by light that flooded his face, rubble getting lifted and then a relieved voice.

"Kanda!" Allen sounded far too happy for his own good, Crown Clown moving quickly and picking the rest of the rubble off of Kanda as he moved forwards, his arms outstretched as he picked up the Japanese Exorcist gently. "Can you move? Are in pain-"

Allen was quick to see the blood staining his clothes but didn't say a word as Kanda rolled his eyes.

"From how long you took to find me, everything has healed moron," he muttered. "What happened to the thief?"

Allen frowned at that. So Kanda really couldn't remember anything that just happened? He let Kanda stand on his own feet, watching him snatch up Mugen, then glanced to the side where Marie and Link were standing, rubbing the back of his head.

"Marie managed to track him down." Allen answered, his Crown Clown deactivating as Kanda turned his attention to the other Exorcist.

"It helps that he had a very...peculiar laugh," Marie noted, pressing his hand against his ear. "I've already located him."

Allen nodded his head, watching Kanda roll his eyes as they followed after the man, the police calling after him and demanding an answer. It was Link who paused, who turned to face them, his expression unchanging.

"If you return to the station, a man will be there to explain the situation- and to speak with you regarding all the men you've arrested as being accomplices to Phantom Thief G," Link closed his eyes. "Let the Exorcists do their work, interference will cause problems for both of us."

 **Trust**

They stood outside an orphanage, Kanda's expression going blank as Marie confirmed that the crying had come from here. He wasn't too surprised that it was a child, from the way all of the 'accomplices' had acted, but…

A child. A fucking _child._ Not that he could talk but he considered himself an exception.

"I'm not too surprised actually," Allen broke the silence, standing in front of the steps. "He did seem pretty childish-"

"You're more childish than him, Moyashi," Kanda cut him off, earning a glare from the white-haired male in question. "And-"

They both froze in place, Kanda placing his his hand on Mugen's hilt as a scream came from the building. Allen ran up the stairs without hesitation, slamming the door open—

And Kanda felt the need to bow his head in shame when Allen was suddenly headbutted by one of the children who went flying, falling back down the stairs he ran up.

"Oh no, I used my father's self-defense technique again!" a woman freaked out, running to the entrance of the orphanage. "Timothy, are you okay- oh god, I hit someone else too!"

Link was the first person to kneel next to Allen, who was clutching at his head, letting out an irritated sigh.

"Walker, it didn't hurt that much-"

"I'M BLEEDING! I'M GONNA BLEED TO DEATH!" Allen suddenly screeched out, smearing the blood on his forehead. "P-PWEEEHHHHH!"

Kanda's eyes flashed, his attention being brought to the child who was unconscious on the pavement, the bandana that had been wrapped around his head to the side and a large visible gem was stuck on the middle of his forehead. He moved quickly and grabbed the boy, placing Mugen against his throat.

"I suggest you get out of him, unless you want to find your original body without a head, _thief_ ," Kanda smirked widely as Allen looked over at him, tears falling from his eyes like waterfalls, freaking out. "I have no issue with beheading you actually…"

"PWWWEEEEEHHHHHHH!"

 **Trust**

"So you're trying to tell me that Timothy has been possessing people to steal valuable items to sell in order to keep the orphanage open…?" the woman in charge of the orphanage sounded doubtful as she glanced towards where Allen and Timothy were tied up together, glaring daggers at each other. "It sounds...ridiculous, for lack of a better word."

"Well, it's true," Kanda snapped irritably, his arms cross as he glanced to the side. "That little shit over there-"

"Don't mind him," Marie was quick to intervene, a nervous smile on his face. "He's not very...good at talking with people-"

"Care to explain how Timothy has that gem on the middle of his forehead?" Link asked suddenly, having being quiet the entire time. "I believe it was the thing that caused him to take over Allen Walker's consciousness, when their heads collided."

"Oh, that," a blonde girl responded, who had introduced herself as Emilia. "His father was a thief you see and he forced Timothy to swallow his stolen gems to try and get away with his crime...but then this happened. The doctors can't find an explanation for it."

"It may be a thing that we call _Innocence_ ," Marie explained. "We go around the world looking for it and there is a chance that he may have the Innocence and be the Accommodator for it."

"So what does that mean for Timothy?" Emilia asked, getting a fright as Kanda growled and turned his attention towards her.

"It means that he'll be taken back to the Order and trained as an Exorcist if that's the case," Kanda answered. "That is the fate of Accommodators."

"No way am I going anywhere with you guys!" Timothy suddenly protested, kicking out against his restraints. "I'm sick of people making choices for me! I want to stay here!"

"Calm down Timothy-" Allen tried to soothe. "We don't even know if it's Innocence or not yet, so you might not even- huh?"

Kanda and Marie raised their guards as they felt a sudden pressure surrounded them, Allen easily getting out of his restraints and looking around.

"A barrier?" Kanda mused, drawing Mugen. "Is this-"

"A barrier of some form," Allen confirmed. "If that's the case, then…"

"Akuma will be here," Marie finished, Link's expression turning into a light from.

"We should probably evacuate everyone in the orphanage using the gates," Allen suggested, ignoring Link's protests. "That way we can minimise casualties and-"

"You are forbidden to use the gates without permission Walker!" Link reminded him. "Everyone should go to the basement, since that it probably the safest place to go- Walker, are you alright? You've gone pale-"

"I...I can't…" Allen bit his lips, his eyes going wide. "I can't bring the gate to this location…"

And just from Allen's expression, Kanda could tell that something bad was going to happen.


	7. Chapter Seven: Death

**Trust**

 **Summary:** After a reaction between Kanda's and a newly retrieved Innocence fragment, the Japanese Exorcist turns into a child. With Leverrier believing that the reaction was caused by betrayal, how was Allen meant to make everyone believe Kanda was innocent? How was he meant to get Kanda to trust him when he could only remember what the Order had put him through?

 **Chapter Seven**

 **Death**

"I'll take them down to the basement Walker, you need to- Walker, are you even listening to me?" Allen still appeared to be in shock at the realization that he would not be able to use the Ark to get everyone to safety, which Link was quick to try and snap him out of. "Walker! There's a level four outside!"

"Che," Kanda rolled his eyes. "Let him stand there, I'll deal with it."

Kanda exited the building along with Marie, Allen snapping out of it when he heard the building get attacked from the outside, glancing over at Link.

"We'll go with your plan," Allen agreed, though he would have been happier if he could have gotten everyone else out using the Ark. "I'll go help Kanda and Marie and then see what we can do about this barrier."

He left Link with the women who worked there and with the children who had all gathered together, heading out and seeing the black walls surrounding them, then his attention was brought to the Level Four that was currently fighting with Kanda, floating around and blocking every single strike Kanda, a childish snicker escaping the Akuma.

"I knew there was a child here that had Innocence…" the Akuma, using its arm as Kanda twisted in the air and struck hard. "But it definitely isn't you…"

The Akuma got distracted and then flew upwards to avoid Marie's strings, pressing a few fingers against its head, Allen knowing that it was receiving a message— becoming disturbed at the Akuma's sudden change of expression, its gaze focused on solely Kanda.

"Ah…" the Akuma let out a giggle. "You're Yu Kanda, a Second."

Kanda didn't give a response, not willing to listen to whatever an _Akuma_ had to say to him. He gripped his swords tight, staring upwards as he worked out the range.

"But the question in...why do you appear to be a child? The image the Earl has sent me does not resemble you...currently," Kanda stared at the demon with a blank expression, watching as it floated around in thought. "Such a sudden change means…"

Allen suddenly moved and stood in front of Kanda defensively, watching as the Akuma clapped its hands together, the giggling becoming louder.  
"A sudden change in Innocence!" it concluded. "This is quite interesting!"

"Marie, I'm going to drag down the Lever Four with Crown Clown," Allen spoke to the other Exorcist, who had been listening keenly the entire time. "When I do, catch it with your strings."

Kanda almost snarled with Allen unconsciously pushed him back, not pleased that he was silently being told not to interfere—

But he froze with Allen and Marie at the sound of screams of terror, turning their attention back to the orphanage. The Level Four floated to the ground, Kanda glancing towards it as it laughed, hard.

"Did you really think I was the only Akuma here?" it sneered, causing Allen to tense. "So much for trying to protect the children...they're already-"

"Moyashi!" Kanda called after him as Allen rushed towards the Orphanage, about to chase after him, only to get stopped by Marie. "Don't fall for such obvious bait-"

Though it was already too late, the Level Four quick on using one of its arms to fire a multitude of dark matter bullets at Allen, hitting him directly and sending him skidding across the ground. Kanda recognised the pentacles crossing his skin, his blood going cold for a few moments until Marie spoke.

"He's a parasite type," Marie answered Kanda, almost as if sensing what he was thinking. "It won't kill him, he just needs time to recover. So we need to distract the Level Four while his body deals with it."

"He's a parasite type," the Akuma was now focused on Marie. "But you two are equip type. The Akuma virus would kill you two in a heartbeat-"

"Like that's going to happen," Kanda growled, holding onto Mugen firmly. "I feel like you're underestimating us, you damn demon."

The Level Four merely let out another giggle, raising its gun.

"No, you're _underestimating_ me."

With that, both Marie and Kanda separated , jumping on opposite sides as the Akuma shot, which Kanda quickly came to realize it was done on purpose since the Level Four turned its attention to Marie and fired. Kanda thought that Marie had gotten out of it unscathed—

But when the Exorcist cut off two of his fingers without hesitation with his strings, he knew that he had been hit.

"Well, you're no fun," the Level Four seemed annoyed at Marie's quick thinking. It then looked at Kanda, analyzing him. "Though why aren't you reacting? You got hit, didn't you?"

He got hit? He glanced down at himself, seeing that his coat had been nicked, but he felt nothing that indicated that he was infected. He closed his eyes, a smirk crossing his lips, his hair falling in front of his eyes.

"I'm not like those two," he responded, raising Mugen above his head. "No matter how much you try and cut me down, I'll keep getting back up. _You can't kill me_."

Marie, despite the fact he couldn't see what Kanda's current expression was, he could hear from his tone of voice…

Yu Kanda's personality was starting to bleed through, even though Kanda himself couldn't tell nor remember.

 **Trust**

They had been fighting for over half an hour, Marie attempting to assist Kanda with his strings, but the Japanese Exorcist and the Level Four were clashing too fast for him to work out where to place his strings. At the speed they were going at, it would be impossible not to cut Kanda, even though Kanda himself would probably get annoyed with him and say that it didn't matter if he got cut, that he'd _heal_ or something along the lines of that.

To the side of them, Marie had picked up that Timothy had managed to fully use the Innocence to escape with Howard Link, but there was another man now defending them...though he didn't know who it was, though he managed to pick up on a name.

Madarao. He knew no one with this name, but Howard Link seemed to know who he was. That was enough reason to trust him, Marie decided. He heard Kanda skidding back from a blow, knowing that he was okay from the way the Japanese male adjusted his feet to slow himself down.

The problem was Allen Walker. He still hadn't gotten up from the blow he had taken earlier. Just how many bullets had he taken with his rash decision?

"A few more minutes…" Allen managed out, Marie turning his head to listen to him. "I'll be able to move in a few minutes...the...the children…?"

"I can hear them," Marie responded. "They're alive."

Allen didn't know if Marie would lie to him, but he trusted his words, slowly pushing himself off of the ground, Crown Clown glowing around him.

"How many are-"

"The Level Four is the only one remaining," Marie answered before he could finish. "Kanda's been holding him off for you to recover. Usually, a Level Four wouldn't be this much of a problem for him, but he can't…"

"Remember," Allen finished, turning around. "Even if Kanda can't remember, he'll be fine-"

As the words slipped past his lips, Allen's eyes widened at the sudden splatter of blood that hit his face, reaching up and smearing it across his cheek. His silver hues caught onto the Level Four…

And then Kanda, who was caught by his throat, his head tilted back and his eyes wide open, blank and unmoving. It didn't take very long for Allen to figure out where the blood had come from after seeing the gaping hole that went straight through Kanda's gut, causing Allen's heart to still in his chest.

Was…

Was Kanda dead?

The Level Four let out a shrill laugh, then dropped Kanda onto the ground, who landed with a dull _thud_ and didn't move, Mugen slipping out of his hand.  
"All bark and no bite," The Akuma spoke, using its foot to tilt Kanda's head to the side, as if inspecting him. It felt raised its foot and pressed it against the side of Kanda's face, intending on crushing his skull. "What were you saying about him being _fine_ Exorcist?"

Allen felt rage overtake him, Crown Clown responding without hesitation, shooting out towards the Akuma and knocking it away from Kanda, his silver orbs darkening as he stepped forwards.

"How dare you…" Allen's tone was almost unrecognisable. "How _dare_ you hurt him!"

Marie could sense that things weren't going to go too well from here on out, judging from the fact that Crown Clown had picked Kanda up and moved him towards Marie, allowing him to hold the limp child in his arms.

Marie couldn't hear breathing. He couldn't hear a pulse.

Did Yu Kanda really just die?

 **Trust**

' _ **Yu, your reckless behaviour really is something I don't understand.'**_

The Innocence. The Innocence chose now of all times to annoy him... when he was fighting?

' _Leave me alone,'_ Kanda responded, though paused when he realised that he was surrounded in pitch blackness. _'...Where the hell am I?'_

' _ **You don't remember at all? It must have been fast,'**_ The Innocence responded, her voice echoing slightly. _**'You're dead Yu.'**_

' _Sure I am,'_ Kanda felt the need to roll his eyes. _'Try and tell me this when I'm actually dead.'_

' _ **So where do you think you are?'**_ the Innocence asked lightly. _**'Because this doesn't look like the Orphanage, does it?'**_

' _It looks like nothing,'_ he snapped irritably. _'So am I unconscious?'_

' _ **Dead,'**_ The Innocence told him again. _**'You lost most of your internal organs. This is probably one of the worst wounds you've taken on. What were you thinking, letting it provoke you like that?'**_

' _Not my fault,'_ Kanda growled. _'In case you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly a long range fighter.'_

' _ **Well done for stating the obvious,'**_ the Innocence let out a sigh, her tone turning gentle. _**'I've already saved you once, how many times must I use my power to keep you alive?'**_

' _...What's that meant to mean?'_ Kanda responded dryly. _'I was never-'_

' _ **I think it's about time that we had a talk, don't you think, Yu?'**_

Kanda grit his teeth, then closed his eyes, choosing to sit down cross-legged and rest his chin on his hand. He didn't really want to listen to _Innocence_ of all things, but for some reason her- could he even refer to it as a her?— tone swayed him to listen for once.

' _ **Though I'm sure Allen Walker has told you many times that you used to be an adult, I'm just going to clarify that you were, at one point, nineteen-years-old, though you can't remember this because of the form you're currently in.'**_

' _If that's the case then why am I in this form?'_

' _ **You've always had...this ability Yu, where your body could regenerate much faster than any human alive,'**_ The Innocence suddenly took a form in the darkness, taking the form of a woman with long blonde hair, her eyes a bright green. _**'You fought just as recklessly as you do now, believing that you could never die. You took your body for granted. You started to heal slower and came closer to dying more and more often since your body couldn't cope with the new wounds...but then you found me on a mission with Allen Walker.'**_

' _I found you?'_ Kanda resisted the urge to snort. _'I feel like you're missing some things out here.'_

' _ **I say you found me, but you heard my call,'**_ she responded, sitting on her knees beside Kanda, smoothing the silk dress she was wearing down. _**'On that mission, you were too stubborn to tell Allen Walker on how you were feeling. You were in pain the entire way through it, your body was weak and you were suffering from a previous injury. To put it simply Yu, you were dying and you yourself knew it.'**_

' _So...what?'_ Kanda responded bluntly. _'How has this got anything to do with the fact that I'm supposedly dead now?'_

' _ **I'm starting to question your intelligence,'**_ the Innocence laughed. _**'When you retrieved me, I could sense that you were dying. I could have just left you, but I felt the need to save you. So I forced myself to merge with you, even though you were already an accommodator and tried to reverse the damage...the other Innocence and I clashed a bit until we came to a mutual understanding that I had to take drastic measures to reverse the damage. So I reversed back enough to a point where you were at your healthiest.'**_

' _Which is this child form?'_ Kanda finished, watching as the Innocence nodded her head. _'If that's the case, then why can't I remember anything?'_

' _ **That,'**_ the Innocence closed her eyes. _**'Was a mistake on my part. I didn't think your body would try and reject me as much as it did, so your memories were lost in the struggle. They are still there, just locked away. They'll most likely come back to you once you take your old form back.'**_

' _So you're basically telling me that I'll return to look like a nineteen-year-old?'_ the Innocence nodded her head at his question, which caused an irritated expression to cross his face. _'Well, now I just seem like a dumb fuck, since I was convinced they were all deluded for telling me that I wasn't supposed to be a child in this time.'_

' _ **It's not like they'll judge you for thinking that way,'**_ she responded lightly, then her expression turned a bit more serious. _**'Let's get back to the issue at hand. You are dead— and the only way that you're coming back is if you give me permission to take over your body.'**_

Kanda stared at her skeptically, not liking how she almost _demanded_ that he give her permission. What else was he meant to do? He could refuse, but then he really would stay dead. He couldn't let himself die, not until he…

' _I'll let you,'_ he finally agreed. _'But you need to answer a question of mine first.'_

' _ **What is it you want to ask, Yu?'**_ she responded without hesitation, her eyes flickering. _**'If you think I'm not going to give you your body back, I fully intend on-'**_

' _That's not what I was going to ask,'_ he bit out, then sighed, clenching his fists as he took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. _'I wanted to ask...why you were taking the form of the woman I dream about every night?'_

The Innocence then let out a gentle smile, reaching a pale hand over and cupping Kanda's cheek softly, forcing him to look at her.

' _ **I can't tell you exactly why I look like her,'**_ she told him, her fingers tracing his jawline. _**'But I took this form since I know you feel comforted when you see her.'**_

Kanda froze in place, going wide-eyed when she retracted her hand from his face and then took a hold of his own hand, squeezing gently.

' _ **I'm going to go now. Don't worry, it'll just feel like you're asleep while I fix your body. Just...trust me, okay?'**_

With that, her image shattered , Kanda's vision going blurry as he felt back, passing out suddenly.

The last thing he saw was a lotus, its petals falling.


	8. Chapter Eight: Innocence's Hate

**Trust**

 **Summary:** After a reaction between Kanda's and a newly retrieved Innocence fragment, the Japanese Exorcist turns into a child. With Leverrier believing that the reaction was caused by betrayal, how was Allen meant to make everyone believe Kanda was innocent? How was he meant to get Kanda to trust him when he could only remember what the Order had put him through?

 **Chapter Eight**

 **Innocence's Hate**

Allen knew he was letting his emotions get the better of him— but how could he calm himself? His friend...his friend was _dead_. Yu Kanda was dead. No matter what Kanda had managed to survive before, there was no possibility he could survive without any of his organs…

Could he?

Swinging his sword of Exorcism, he released a blast of energy, the Level Four flying out of the way and snickering. His grip on his weapon tightened, taking a moment to glance towards Marie and Kanda.

In his rage he hadn't noticed that he'd blasted a wave of energy towards the two of them when trying to hit the Akuma, hurting Marie when he sensed it coming and instinctively moved to shield Kanda's body. So Marie was now unconscious, his body covering Kanda's, an unknown figure standing beside him. A passed out Timothy was slung over a weakened Link's shoulder, who was checking if Marie was was still alive—

But he couldn't bring himself to look at Kanda's face, unable to stare at his eyes that were still wide open and glassy. He had to finish this fight...to get medical attention for them. This is why he had to calm down.

"Crown Clown!" he called, the cloak around him glowing. "We haven't done much work today...don't you think we should finish this?"

His Innocence seemed to agree with him as it glowed brighter, Allen's eyes darkening as he suddenly sped up, Crown Clown launching him towards the Level Four as he swung, catching the demon off guard.

He managed to damage one of its arms, but he hadn't expected it to stop its blade with _teeth_. He got yanked and thrown to the side, the sword falling behind the Akuma as it raised its only available arm and started firing bullets at him, forcing him to run along the edge of the building to avoid getting hit. When he saw an opening, he stopped and crouched, the Akuma hitting the wall beside him.

He raised his hand, the sword lifting itself behind the Level Four, then plunged itself through the demon and sent it flying in Allen's direction, stabbing through him as well.

"A-Are you insane?" the Level Four managed out, blood dribbling from its mouth. "You stabbed yourself in the process-"

"Crown Clown doesn't hurt humans," Allen responded, unfazed that he was impaled with his own weapon. "It only works on Akuma and Noah-"

He couldn't finish his sentence, feeling a mind-numbing pain overcome him as he choked up blood, the crimson liquid trickling from his lips as his eyes widened.

"Crown...C-Clown…?"

"Doesn't hurt humans?" the Level Four sneered loudly, despite the predicament it was in. "Then why does it look like you're suffering as much as me…?"

Allen's lips parted as he let out a cry of agony, catching the attention of Link and the other male, who froze at the sight, unsure on how to take the situation Allen was in. He quietened down, slumping slightly, the Akuma grinning widely and opening its mouth wide, forming an attack with its mouth to attack him in his weakened state—

But Allen reached a gloved hand up and cupped the Level Four's face, a soft smile gracing his lips as his eyes hooded over, a soft purr coming from his throat.

"Good morning," his tone was a mix of teasing and taunting. "Miss me?"

"No...ah?"

A smirk broke across Allen's face, just as a sword was suddenly pierced through the Akuma's skull, the white-haired Exorcist pulling his sword of Exorcism out of his body and ripping the demon in half at the time time. Not long after he saw the form of Kanda, the gaping wound through his gut glowing with Innocence.

And Kanda's eyes were not normally a sparkling emerald.

"What a state you've gotten yourself into this time, Noah…" Kanda's voice came out, quiet enough so that only Allen could hear. "Stabbing yourself with Innocence? And I thought my host was reckless."

Allen merely continued to smirk, staring at Kanda with a knowing gaze, before his eyes brightened up again, the white-haired teen falling against the wall and sliding down it in a slump.

"God, that hurt-" he hissed, then paused when he saw Kanda standing in front of him, holding Mugen. "K-Kanda?!"

Allen caught sight of the bright emerald eyes, but the slowly turned back to a dark cobalt as his body when limp, collapsing on top of the other Exorcist, causing Allen to yelp in pain.

"Shit—" he reached his gloved hand up and searched for a pulse, feeling relieved when he found one, yet oddly perplexed at how his body was healing back up, his organs and stomach reappearing and healing to a point that it looked like nothing had happened other than the fact his Exorcist uniform was in shreds. "What is...this…"

Inside, he already knew what had happened. Kanda's eyes, which had turned emerald...his body that had healed the impossible...it wasn't Kanda's regenerative abilities that caused it this time around.

It was the Innocence in his blood.

Allen tried to make a move to get up, but his vision went hazy and he passed out, hearing Link call out to him as he rushed over.

"Allen Walker! Yu Kanda!"

 **Trust**

When Kanda awoke, the first thing he noticed was that he was laying on something soft, his skin was bare and he was covered in what could only be described as silk. He sat up slowly, the sheets covering him falling off of him as he examined himself, pressing a hand against his stomach, feeling that it was intact, then frowned.

Was that entire thing just a dream?

' _ **No, it wasn't,'**_ the Innocence spoke in his mind, her tone sounding tired. _**'You died. I fixed the damage on your body. I would appreciate it if you didn't get yourself in a state again any time soon, because I don't have the strength to fix you again at the moment.'**_

"Who knew Innocence could get tired," Kanda replied dryly, hearing the Innocence give him a dead laugh in response. "I always thought that you leeched off of us."

 _ **'Not the case,'**_ she replied, sounding somewhat irritated. _**'We're the ones who give you strength. Of course we get tired.'**_

Kanda brushed that to the side, looking around himself at what appeared to be a medical room. He glanced towards the door, seeing figures standing outside of it because of the glass panes, gripping the sheets tightly as he recognized the voices.  
Howard Link and Malcolm C. Leverrier.

"Fill me in," Kanda asked—well, more like demanded, but he tried to make it seem like a request. "What happened at the Orphanage?"

 _ **'I assisted Allen Walker in killing the Level Four Akuma,'**_ she responded. _**'Howard Link and presumably coworker Madarao dealt with the Orphanage while you and Allen were taken for medical treatment. Not that they had to do much for you, but that boy was in some state.'**_

"Tch, he probably-"

He stopped talking when Leverrier suddenly opened the door to the room, stepping inside and staring Kanda down, his expression unreadable.

"Yu Kanda," he addressed him, his voice booming with authority. "You've got some explaining to do."

"I don't have to explain shit to you," Kanda snapped back immediately. "Fuck off."

"You really need to learn how to hold your tongue around your superiors," Leverrier responded sternly, taking his seat next to Kanda, watching as Link came in not long later, holding two plates of what appeared to be cake, handing them both over to his boss. "But I'll let it slide."

Kanda narrowed his eyes as Link left the room again, his nose crinkling as Leverrier offered him one of the plates. He reached over and took it, placing it on his lap, but made no move to eat it.

"Though depending on how you answer my questions is going to deeply affect how you and Allen Walker are treated."

"What's that meant to mean?" Kanda question, his eyes flickering slightly. "It's not like we did anything wrong- we done the mission as instructed-"

"I've already received my reports from both my subordinates," Leverrier stared at Kanda calmly. "That new Innocence of yours is the most unexplainable thing the Order has ever seen."

"What's that meant to mean?" Kanda responded, his tone defensive. As much as he hated Innocence...he couldn't bring himself to hate the one inside him...perhaps because it looked and sounded like that woman? "You're making no fucking sense."

"Madarao reported that when he and Link got to you—you were definitely dead. But the instant Allen Walker impaled himself and the Akuma with his own Innocence, you somehow came back to life, despite having no organs," Leverrier then smirked widely. "And you didn't appear to be the same person as you charged in and killed that Level Four."

Kanda's expression went blank, since he couldn't answer him in the slightest— because he couldn't even remember doing something like that. He couldn't even remember supposedly having no _organs_.

"From your expression, it would appear that his report was correct," Leverrier leaned back in his seat. "It wasn't you, was it? You really were dead at that point, but your _Innocence_ stepped in for you."

' _ **This bastard…'**_ Kanda heard the Innocence hiss in his head, angry. _**'What the hell is he trying to get out of confirming that? Allen Walker's and Lenalee Lee's Innocence saved them from death as well-'**_

Kanda had no idea what she was talking about, his attention remaining on Leverrier as he continued.

"What was interesting was the fact that your Innocence and Allen Walker, who also didn't seem to be himself, seemed to have a very hushed conversation. Now why would your Innocence even attempt to have a conversation with the _Fourteenth_ Noah?"

Fourteenth Noah? What the hell was Leverrier going on about? Kanda remained silent, his hair covering his eyes.

"...Of course, you know nothing, but your Innocence does," Leverrier's eyes glinted. "So what would I need to do to get your Innocence to spit it out?"

 _ **'I should really just kill him-'**_ Kanda furrowed his brow as she made a frustrated noise. _**'Don't even answer him, no matter what he asks.'**_

"Your Innocence must be very fond of you, if it was willing to save you from that kind of wound."

 _ **'I swear to god, he's making me mad-'**_

"So I'm sure there are ways of making it come back to the surface...especially if you're compliant-"

 _ **'Yu-!'**_

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Kanda snarled, reaching up and clutching at his head, causing Leverrier to raise a brow at his outburst. He tugged at his hair and then glared Leverrier down, hissing through his teeth. "Compliant? Why would I do anything for an arrogant bastard who thinks he can get whatever he wants? I really couldn't give a fuck on what you want. I hate Innocence enough as it is and you expect me to give you damn _answers_ about it?"

 _ **'Ouch Yu, that hurt,'**_ the Innocence let out a dramatic sigh. _**'I thought we were starting to get along-'**_

"So does that mean you refuse to assist the Order in its investigations?" Leverrier asked, his eyes darkening. "I always knew you would turn out to be a traitor, Yu Kanda."

Kanda felt his blood run cold, his knuckles turning white against the sheets as he watched a couple of CROW file into the room. They already had sealing tags in their hands, as if expecting resistance from him straight away.

"Yu Kanda, you are hereby deemed as a threat to the Black Order and will be detained until further notice."

It was at that moment, for some unexplainable reason, that he wished Allen Walker was there to tell him that everything was going to be okay. That he would be _safe_. He couldn't help but let out a bitter laugh at his own thoughts. Alma must have rubbed off on him too much.

He felt his arms being grabbed roughly, forcefully dragged out of the bed, glancing down and silently thanking the person who had cleaned him up for at least clothing him with bottoms. His arms were forced behind his back as he was restrained, a low growl escaping him at how rough they were with him as they pushed him out of the room.

He heard a voice calling out his name, and as he looked to the side to see who it was, he saw an injured Allen Walker being restrained by Crow himself, looking furious.

"You can't be serious!" he shouted, still struggling. "He hasn't even done anything wrong? You don't have a _right_ to treat Kanda like this-"

"In fact, I do," Leverrier answered as he stepped out of the room after Kanda. "And any more coming from you then you'll be in the same predicament."

Allen didn't seem to care much about the consequences, but was silenced when Lenalee came up behind him, resting her hand on his shoulder and shooting him a pleading look, whispering softly.

"Drop it Allen," she bit her lip. "If you kick up a fuss you might make things worse for Kanda than it already is…"

Allen then went silent, his eyes latching onto Kanda's, as if silently telling him that he would sort this out. It made Kanda want to snort and roll his eyes, but he didn't, turning his head as he was forced along the hallways of the Order, ignoring the stares he was receiving and the hushed whispers that were around.

' _ **And I started to question why I never wanted to be found,'**_ the Innocence spoke in his mind, her voice faint. _**'This place isn't as bathed in light as it makes out to be.'**_

Kanda couldn't help but agree with her.


	9. Chapter 9

**Trust**

 **Summary:** After a reaction between Kanda's and a newly retrieved Innocence fragment, the Japanese Exorcist turns into a child. With Leverrier believing that the reaction was caused by betrayal, how was Allen meant to make everyone believe Kanda was innocent? How was he meant to get Kanda to trust him when he could only remember what the Order had put him through?

 **Chapter Nine**

 **I'm Here**

Kanda sat on the bed that he was chained to, small fingers examining the cuffs that were wrapped around his wrists, knowing that the glow coming from them must suppress Innocence— because he had a feeling that they were more wary of him having the Innocence in his blood than they were about him having Mugen.

Two days had passed since he had been deemed traitor. On the first day, the Innocence had been talking to him, which he continued to say that he really didn't need her for reassurance, but on the second day, when the Cardinal had came in to visit with Leverrier to ask questions, the Innocence went silent, Kanda being unable to sense that she was even there.

She never resurfaced after that and the silence became near unbearable. He was used to Alma stalking him and annoying the hell out of him and more recently he was used to being in the presence of Allen, who reminded him in so many ways of Alma but at the same nothing like him.

After his talk with the Innocence, Kanda spent a lot of his time trying to remember. To regain the memories he had lost. What had he been doing for the past years? He reached up and rubbed at a temple as images of Alma and the Asian Branch flashed through his mind, but not enough for him to place what was going on.

He flopped back on the bed, his nose crinkling when the springs creaked, turning on his side and facing the wall, closing his eyes and letting out a sigh when he heard the door open, a masked CROW walking in with a tray of food and placing it beside the bed so he could reach for it, not that he had any intention to. He couldn't tell if they had laced his food with anything.

So he lay there and he waited, expecting the white-haired Exorcist that had supposedly fought tooth and nail the first time to get him his freedom to burst into the room, spluttering some kind of excuse as to why it took him so long to deal with the problem.

Had he really sunk that low to believe that would actually happen?

 **Trust**

Everyone was gathered in the main hall of the Order, people whispering to one another as they tried to guess the reasons for the sudden summons. Allen stood at the back of the hall, Lavi standing next to him as he tried to figure out what his friend was thinking. He closed his lone eye and sighed, already knowing what was on the white-haired teen's mind.

Yu Kanda. Four days had passed since the Japanese Exorcist had been locked up. No one knew how he was being treated—nor how he was as a whole. Lavi didn't think they would do anything too severe, considering Kanda was still _valuable_ , as much as he hated to put it in that way.

The redhead's attention was then brought over to the other end of the hall, where he saw Komui and Leverrier standing on a small podium. Komui's expression was neutral, but Lavi was certain that he was trying to keep his composure in front of everyone, most likely because of his position as supervisor.

Beside him, Leverrier had a smirk gracing his lips, which Lavi didn't like at all. Did this man enjoy making bringing misery to people?

Lavi wiped his thoughts when Bookman shot him a pointed look, silently telling him what his role was. He was a Bookman— his job was to record everything in an unbiased way. After telling himself to get a grip, he focused on Leverrier as he spoke, getting everyone's attention.

"There are a few announcements I would like to make, thus the reason everyone has been gathered here today," Lavi glanced to the side when he saw Allen tense, watching as his silver hues darkened in hate. "The first regarding Yu Kanda, then another regarding Allen Walker."

This caused a lot of people to turn and look at Allen, despite the fact that he was right at the back of the hall. He said nothing, his attention never leaving Leverrier as he clapped his hands to get their attention again.

"As most of you know by now, Yu Kanda synchronized with a second Innocence fragment and the reaction between it and the first fragment caused him to take the form of a child while repairing all the damage he had taken onto his body over the past nine years," everyone was silent as they listened to him, despite the fact they wanted to question how such a thing was even possible. "On his last mission with Allen Walker, he died after losing all of his internal organs."

With that, there was a sudden outcry in the hall, the only people not reacting to the news being Allen, Lenalee and Lavi. Leverrier was silent as he waited for everyone to calm themselves.

"However, like with Allen Walker and Lenalee Lee, his newly acquired Innocence saved his life and healed up a wound that no _human_ could possibly survive," Leverrier's eyes glinted. "And it also appeared to have a conscience of its own, which chose to _willingly_ communicate with who we know of being the host to the _Fourteenth Noah…_ "

Lavi felt himself clenching his fists. He already knew what Leverrier was going to say, since he had witnessed the entire conversation between Cross Marian and Allen.

"...and that is Allen Walker."

Everyone whipped around and stared wide-eyed at Allen, most of them backing away from him, looks of disgust crossing their faces. Lenalee looked shocked at the information as well, but she didn't move away from Allen's side, being the only one brave enough to speak against Leverrier.

"But he's not the Fourteenth!" she called out, anger flashing across her gentle features. "Allen will always be Allen! How can you all look at him like this...when he's risked his life to protect all of you?"

Most of them didn't respond, but the science division worked their way through the crowds and took Allen's side, causing the white-haired teen to blink in surprise, but he didn't say anything.

"With that being said," Komui suddenly spoke up. "Allen Walker is the _host_ of the Fourteenth, but he is still an Exorcist. All Exorcists are now on a full standing order. If Allen Walker-"

"If the Fourteenth takes control of me to attack the Order, then kill me," Allen finished off, his voice echoing through the hall. "But that's not going to happen. I'll stop him with my own hands if he even tries."

Lavi blinked, staring at Allen's oddly calm expression, despite the looks he was receiving. Lenalee felt her eyes tear up, reaching up quickly and wiping the water away before it could be seen.

"Regarding Yu Kanda," Leverrier continued. "He has been deemed a threat to the Order, since we cannot confirm what his Innocence's intentions are, therefore he will be confined until we look more into the matter."

"You lock up an Exorcist for having Innocence that saved his life, but you won't lock up someone who hosts a _Noah_?" one of the finders suddenly blurted out, stepping forwards. "That's some bullshit-"

"I suggest you refrain from such comments," people were shocked when it was Komui who spoke up. "Allen Walker will continue being an Exorcist. He is vital to our cause."

"And Kanda isn't?" Allen spoke up, his eyes flickering. "I'd much rather you lock me up and let him out."

"Allen!" Lenalee gasped at his words. "Neither of you should be locked up-"

"That is all I have to announce," Leverrier cut her off, making Lenalee shrink back when the man who had caused her misery over the years stared at her down. "Lenalee, a word."

Komui was quick to shoot Leverrier a look when he requested—not that it was much of a request— to see Lenalee. Allen and Lavi both felt themselves tense, automatically wanting to know why _scum_ like Leverrier would want to see their friend. Because Leverrier was someone everyone should try not to attract.

She stepped away from them, only pausing when Lavi grabbed her by the hand, turning to look at him, her expression soft.

"Don't worry Lavi, I'll be okay," she whispered, tugging her hand away. "I'll let you know what he wanted after."

And Lavi could only stay in place as she offered a warm smile, turning her back on him.

 **Trust**

She had expected Leverrier to try and get under her skin for the way she had automatically stuck up for Allen— not for him to start discussing Kanda. She felt relieved however, since the man she had hated since childhood was allowing her to see Kanda, but she wished it was under different terms.

She held a tray in her hand, staring at the food she had prepared with a frown. She had a large glass of water, a bowl of soup and a portion of soba. She had been told that Kanda had refused to eat and drink anything ever since he'd been imprisoned, which didn't really surprise her. She probably wouldn't have either.

She stood outside of his cell, watching the CROW guarding the cell unlock it and nudge her in none too kindly, locking her inside with Kanda. She couldn't help but feel like she wasn't trusted either, but brushed the thought to the side as her eyes rested on Kanda, who was laying on his side on the bed, facing the wall.

Four days. He had been alone here, for four days, with people looking down on him as a traitor. She walked over, resting the tray next to the bed, reaching a hand over gingerly and rested it on his bare arm. Couldn't they have at least given him warmer clothes, was what she thought, rather than leaving him in just bottoms?

"Kanda?" she whispered, not getting a response from him. "Are...are you sleeping…?"

Even if he was genuinely sleeping, she knew she would be forced to wake him up. Leverrier...Leverrier told her no matter what, she had to get him to eat. She wished it was out of concern he gave this order, but he made it clear that he couldn't interrogate someone who barely had the strength to sit up.

She rested her hand more firmly against his arm, blinking in surprise when she felt the heat come off of him. She sat on the bed beside him, gently turning him so that he was laying on his back, reaching up and brushing his hair away from his face.

Her blood ran cold when she saw his pale complexion, her hand coming to rest on his forehead, feeling that he was burning up.

But how long for? How long had he been like this?

She scooped him up into her arms, for the first time thankful of his size, then noticed that she wouldn't be able to move him very far from the bed because of the chains. She bit her lip, then looked over at the door, calling out.

"Kanda needs to go get medical attention!" she called, knowing that she could be heard. "He's burning up! He's really weak and-"

She stopped when a hatch opened up and one of the CROW peered inside, watching her hold Kanda in her arms.

"Yu Kanda will not leave this cell. Sir Leverrier has given you the task to take care of him."

"But this is serious!" she snapped. "Without medical attention, he could get worse-"

"Then request what is needed and we will bring it to you. As we explained, Yu Kanda will not be leaving this cell."

Lenalee was horrified at their response. How could they treat him like this? He wasn't even a traitor yet they refused to get him proper help…

She wrapped her arms around Kanda, holding him against her chest, then started listing a few of the things she needed.

"I need a bucket of cold water, towels, an IV...and a set of clean clothes," she then glared at the CROW staring at her through the door. "And I mean _clothes_. Something he would be comfortable in."

The hatch in the door then snapped shut, which brought Lenalee's attention to Kanda, who was limp in her arms. The entire time she had known Kanda, she had never once witnessed him become ill—either he really never did get sick or he hid the fact he was sick well.

She shifted him so that he was sitting on her lap, his back against her chest as she reached and picked up the glass of water, trying to wake him.  
"Kanda, you need to wake up…" she whispered, her tone soothing in his ear. "It's me, Lenalee. I'm sorry I couldn't be here sooner…Lavi and Allen are really worried about you too."

She ignored the door as it was unlocked, the CROW who had addressed her earlier stepping inside and leaving the items she had requested by the bed before leaving and locking the door again.

She paid no mind to them, still trying to wake Kanda, who remained asleep.

"Kanda," her tone turned slightly pleading. "Please wake up. You're scaring me...don't you...don't you want…"

Her throat went dry as she held him closer, closing her eyes as she resisted the urge to let her eyes well up in tears.

"...I don't even know what to promise you...I'm completely useless, aren't I?"

She almost got a fright when she felt the Japanese male shift in her arms, his eyes slowly opening as he spoke, his voice raspy as he glanced up towards her.

"Then don't promise anything," he responded. "Because I'm sick of people lying to me."

Lenalee felt her heart clench at his words, offering him a weak smile.

"I promise that I'll always be here for you, no matter what happens," she said earnestly. "So will Allen and Lavi."

Kanda's gaze caught onto the glass of water she was holding, his piercing gaze silently questioning her if there was anything in it, before he reached up and took it off of her, taking a sip of it.

"The Bookman…" he murmured, causing Lenalee to perk up. "Will only be here until this so-called _war_ ends so that he can record it. Where will he go then? Because I don't believe that he'll always be here— and deep down you know this as well. You just don't want to believe it."

Lenalee's eyes widened in shock at his words. She remembered that Lavi had explained to Kanda what his job was, but she had no idea that he had come to this kind of conclusion from it.

"Lavi will always be _our_ friend," she responded, feeling her heart ache when Kanda pushed away from her, sitting on the other side of the bed. "Kanda-"

"Allen Walker," he continued, taking another drink of the water. "Whose side is he really on? You say that he will always be here, but that isn't true either. He's going to have to make a difficult decision soon enough."

" _Kanda!_ " Lenalee was trembling from his words, gripping at her skirt. "Allen and Lavi are-"

"Not always going be here, for me, for _you_ ," he cut her off coldly. "The Order, which you call your home, is going to suck them into despair, like it has with every single Exorcist that has gotten dragged too far into it...that includes **Yu Kanda**."

Lenalee felt chills go up her back at the sudden change of tone, having a feeling that the person who was speaking to her wasn't the Kanda she knew. She stared at his back, wanting her to turn and face him, to explain what had gotten into him, but when he finally did, she wished he really didn't.

For he stared at her with cold emerald hues.

 **"Lets face it, you're a puppet for the Order as well,"** Kanda let out a sigh. **"You'll break, like the rest of them. I know from experience...** _ **Kanda**_ **knows from experience."**

Was this the Innocence talking to her? Fear crept out from deep within her, her form trembling as tears rolled down her cheeks, which she didn't even attempt to wipe away this time, watching as Kanda turned and moved closer to her, his expression blank.

" **I know you care for him. Care for Kanda,"** Kanda's lips twitched into an odd smile, watching as Lenalee's widened. **"You love him. You've always viewed him as…"**

Kanda's emerald eyes flickered, glowing slightly before settling down.

" **An older brother?"** he concluded. **"Because he was the only one who spoke to you like a human being, before your brother came."**

"H-How do you...how do you know these things?" she whispered, stopping when Kanda reached up and wiped a tear from her face. "Why are you _saying_ such things…?"

 **"Because like Kanda, I don't really trust humans myself,"** was his response. **"I thought I understood them, but really I don't. I have a request for you now, Lenalee Lee, so I want you to listen closely."**

Lenalee went still, feeling Kanda's hand drop away from her face.

" **I trust you to look after him. I can't right now for...various reasons,"** he admitted. **"There is something much darker lurking around this Order and I really don't want to come into contact with it."**

"Something...dark…?"

 **"Yes. Something that I can't reveal myself to. So I'm having to trust you, a human, again after all these years...after only ever being able to trust** _ **him**_ **."**

"What do you want me to do?" she asked without hesitation, having the feeling that this was the only way the Innocence was able to help him. "I'll do anything."

 **"Tell Leverrier that I openly spoke to you,"** Kanda— no, the _Innocence_ spoke. **"And that I will speak to you only. That is the only way you'll have more freedom to take care of Kanda."**

Lenalee felt a rush of relief at the Innocence's words, watching as Kanda nodded his head, the emerald hues silently telling her that he trusted her, or at least, trusted her more than the rest of them.

"I-" Lenalee was quick to move as Kanda's eyes bled back to cobalt, his eyes glazing as he collapsed forwards. She laid him down quickly, pressing her hand against his forehead, feeling his temperature spike. "Kanda!"

She moved towards the rags, soaking one in the bucket and resting it against his forehead, her eyes hardening in determination. He trusted her— no, the _Innocence_ trusted her, but at that moment in time, it was good enough. Right now she had to focus on calming his fever…

And how to convince Leverrier that she was the key to getting the information he wanted. **  
**


	10. Chapter 10

**Trust**

 **Summary:** After a reaction between Kanda's and a newly retrieved Innocence fragment, the Japanese Exorcist turns into a child. With Leverrier believing that the reaction was caused by betrayal, how was Allen meant to make everyone believe Kanda was innocent? How was he meant to get Kanda to trust him when he could only remember what the Order had put him through?

 **Chapter Ten**

 **Photographs**

When Lenalee had willingly stepped into his office, Leverrier was expecting her to yell at him about Kanda's care— what he didn't expect was her to walk in with a smile on her face, her eyes unreadable as she took a seat in front of him.

"What do I owe the honours of seeing your beautiful smile for the first time, Lenalee?" he asked, holding a cup of tea in his hand, staring her down. "I was expecting an argument."

"Of course not," she responded, her tone calm. "I'm not a child anymore and I've come to push aside the hate I'd gathered for you, since we are on the _same side_ , aren't we?"

Leverrier furrowed his brow, taking note that she wasn't trembling, that she was staring at him, her gaze never once leaving him.

"I'm glad you view it that way," he said, his tone clipped. "So why are you here?"

"I'm here to talk about Kanda," she responded smoothly, resting her hand on his desk. "Or rather, his Innocence. It spoke to me."

Leverrier paused, his fingers tightening around his tea cup, his eyes flickering as he tried to pick up whether or not she was lying, but her expression didn't change.

"It spoke to you?" he answered after a few moments. "Why you of all people?"

"Perhaps because I actually _care_ for Kanda," her tone turned slightly cold. "I never tried to get answers out of him when he was _sick_. The Innocence spoke to me because it trusted me for having no hesitation in helping him."

"I see," he didn't bother commenting on the tone she used with him, placing his cup down. "I thought that it may have responded to your Innocence, being that it also saved your life and that you are the only crystal-type the Order has."

Lenalee had wondered this as well, but the Innocence never once reacted when she had spent time with Kanda before, so she knocked the possibility of it off her list. Her smile never left her face, her fingers smoothing along the polished wood of his desk.

"It may be, but I wouldn't know," she replied. "It told me it was a trust issue. I don't think the Innocence appreciates how you're treating its host."

"We wouldn't be treating its host in such a way if it just responded to us in the first place," Leverrier leaned on his desk, staring the youngest Lee down with a somewhat irritated expression. "Pray tell, what did the Innocence say to you?"

"It told me...that it didn't really have a good experience with the Order," Lenalee answered, wording carefully. "It also told me to tell you that the only person it would be willing to talk to was me."

Leverrier was thoughtful, trying to figure out if Lenalee was lying to him or not. He opened his mouth to speak, but Lenalee gave him a bittersweet smile as she rose to her feet.

"So I suggest you let me take care of Kanda, if you want your _answers_ from it."

Leverrier was dumbstruck as she then left the office without another word, closing the door behind her. When she was out of sight, her calm expression dropped and she felt her legs tremble, taking in a deep breath as she walked away.

'...now to see if he takes the bait…' she thought, heading back to the cells to check on Kanda, having grudged leaving his side, even for such a short amount of time.

 **Trust**

When Kanda finally woke up, he felt his breath catch in his throat at the feeling of something cold being rested against his head, cobalt eyes flickering open slowly as he tried to recollect what had happened.

He had suddenly felt weak and dizzy, his skin feeling like it was on fire...but why?

' _Edgar keeps telling me that we'll get sick if we keep coming to the pools without warm clothes...I wonder what that is like though?'_

Alma's voice rung in his head, causing him to blink at the sudden memory, oblivious to the voice that was calling his name. Was this really because he lay wearing only bottoms and never covered himself with a blanket.

"No…" his voice came out in a rasp, his eyes widening slightly. "It was...that _bastard_ …"

"Who?" Kanda snapped out of it when he heard the familiar voice of Lenalee, who looked concerned. "Who are you talking about Kanda?"

He sat up abruptly, feeling the wet rag fall from his head and onto his lap, staring at Lenalee with disbelief. Wasn't this the cell he had been in for the past...how many days now? He lost count. A quick glance around himself confirmed that this was not the cell he had passed out in, but a bedroom. A beautifully decorated bedroom, with blue and green wallpaper covering all four walls. The furniture was all white, a couple of photographs sitting on top of the drawers.

Sitting next to him was Lenalee, who had taken a hold of his hand, a bright smile on her face.

"Thank goodness, you finally woke up," she blinked softly, squeezing his hand. "I got permission to move you to my room so I could tend to you. I know it's a bit girly in here, but I think it's a lot more comfortable than resting in that cell."

His attention was brought down to his wrists, which were no longer chained, then down to his body where he took note that he was wearing a fluffy blue robe that was far too big for him.

"That's a robe that the older you owns," she let out a soft laugh. "I bought it for you one Christmas, though I don't think you ever wore it. I know it's too big for you, but it's warm, isn't it?"

He couldn't deny that it wasn't warm. He went rigid when Lenalee let out a soft laugh at his expression, then calmed when she patted his shoulder.

"Anyway Kanda, now that you've finally woken, I'm going to go ask Jerry to make you some food. Just...stay here okay? I don't want you to get in trouble for wandering."

He watched her leave, then stared at his lap for a few moments and sighed, slipping off of the bed and looking around the bedroom once more, his gaze resting on the photographs sitting on her drawer. Not that it would usually interest him, looking at someone's pictures, but when he managed to catch sight of himself in one of the frames, he couldn't help but wander over, examining each one.

There were lots of Lenalee and Komui together, but then there were pictures of her standing with her...friends, as she probably would have told him. What caught his attention were the few pictures of her at a much younger age...and then himself standing beside her.

He picked it up, staring at it closely. She looked a lot younger, maybe ten or eleven, the age he appeared to be right now, though in the picture, he looked twelve or thirteen. She was smiling brightly, her hair tied up in pigtails, her face covered in plasters and her arms wrapped in bandages. Was she an Exorcist that young as well?

He stared at himself, taking note that he wasn't looking at the camera and was appearing an all-in-one training suit, Mugen held firmly in his hand. He had to admit, he looked pretty annoyed in the picture.

He placed the frame back on the drawer and picked up another one, furrowing his brow. In this one he must have been around eighteen and he was sitting at a table with Allen and Lavi, holding cards. Allen's expression looked completely demonic, while Lavi had a defeated look— and once again, like the other picture, he looked pissed off. It looked like he was halfway taking off his hair tie. Was that what he was meant to give up if he lost or-?

"Do you like the pictures, Kanda?" he almost jumped out of his skin when he heard the voice of Lenalee behind him, turning around to face her. "I have more in my bedside cabinet if you want to look at them, you know."

She was holding a tray with water and soba, which she placed on the table at the side of the room, going over to the cabinet and opening it before she pulled out a pile of photographs, sitting on the bed with them. Kanda was expecting to be told off for looking at the photos without permission, but he brushed it to the side as he lifted the food and went to sit next to her.

"This one here was when Allen first joined the Order. Big brother made a mistake and everyone thought he was an Akuma and you were the first one to react. Thankfully we managed to figure out that General Cross had sent a letter of recommendation, so you didn't gut him like you threatened to," she showed him the picture, which showed himself and Allen standing in the canteen, glaring daggers at one another and having an argument. "Ever since he joined, you always called him 'Moyashi' and he would always correct you. That's what you two were arguing about that day."

Kanda watched her place the picture down, fiddling with his chopsticks and then started to eat the soba, which he had decided didn't taste that bad, despite not wanting to eat it after visiting Hevlaska.

"This one was when big brother made the very first Komurin!" Lenalee sounded very surprised. "His robots were always crazy. It tried to eat your soba, so you sliced its head off with your sword. Big brother was distraught for weeks, but it was probably a good thing you got rid of it."

Kanda stared at the picture, which was slightly blurred. It appeared like he was breaking something mechanical looking with Mugen, a wide smirk on his face as he fully destroyed Komui's creation.

"I couldn't help but take this one," Lenalee spoke softly. "You were meditating. I was going to join you, but you seemed so deep in thought that I let you be that day. I think you would have interrogated me as to what was wrong, since I only ever seemed to meditate with you when something was on my mind…"

Kanda paused, seeing that his older self was sitting cross-legged on the floor, his eyes closed. He did seem to be peaceful, though his attention was brought to the fact that Mugen was laying across his lap. Was he really that attached to the Innocence that he carried it everywhere?

"This one— oh," Lenalee suddenly blushed, growing flustered. "I think A-Allen took this one...I'd just returned from a mission and when I was talking to Lavi...I...kind of fell asleep on him...and he didn't bother to wake me up so he fell asleep as well…"

Kanda was in the middle of taking a drink of water, staring at the picture that Lenalee held firmly between her fingers. She was sitting on one of the couches with Lavi, fast asleep on his chest, while the redhead had his arm wrapped around her, also asleep. If he were going to take a guess, then—

' _When a man and a woman love each other very much, they-'_

This was _not_ the time to be remembering something Edgar said. He almost choked on his water at the mere thought that there was a _possibility_ of—

"Kanda, what are you thinking about? Your face has gone red-" she then paused, then became flustered as he turned his head to look at her, his eyes trailing down to her stomach unconsciously. "K-Kanda! It's not like that!"

"...do you like him?" he asked bluntly, placing his cup down on his tray, then placed the tray on the end of the bed. "What do you mean it's not like that?"

"H-He's my friend, of course I like him!" she nodded her head rapidly, slapping herself across the head. "O-Oh...um...it's nothing, I thought that-"

"Do you love him?" Lenalee's jaw dropped at his question, having not expected _Kanda_ of all people to ask her this kind of question. Komui maybe, _Allen_ the most likely. Kanda even being curious was just _weird_.

"W-What makes you want to ask that, Kanda?" she asked, trying to calm herself down. "I'm just...very comfortable around Lavi."

"Oh," Kanda glanced down at his soba, furrowing his brow. "I was told that if a man and woman loved each other very much, they have children together. That children come from their mother's...womb."

Lenalee was mortified. Who on earth had this conversation with Kanda? Whoever it was, they had given him the most vague explanation on love and about how children were conceived. At Lenalee's expression, Kanda felt the need to hastily add on.

"Doctor Edgar told me this because I asked if all humans were... born in pools of water..."

Lenalee calmed, though her expression became furrowed at his explanation. What was that meant to mean? Why would Kanda even ask if humans were born in pools of water? She had to remind herself that Kanda couldn't remember anything and only knew as much as he did as a child.

"I suppose this Doctor Edgar was correct in telling you that children come from their...mothers tummies," was she really having this talk? With _Kanda?_ No, she couldn't bring herself to have this talk. Not with the man she knew would never normally have this conversation. "What makes you believe that children come out of water pools, Kanda?"

"Because that's where I came from," he responded, Lenalee trying to pick out from his tone whether or not he was joking. "So did Alma."

"I don't-"

 _ **'I think this conversation should end here now, Yu,'**_ Kanda heard his Innocence speak in his mind. _**'There are some things that your...friends...don't know about you at the moment. So I think you should rest for a while.'**_

Kanda was about to question the Innocence, but he felt a gentle pulse of energy, causing him to feel extremely tired. He closed his eyes and fell to the side, his head landing on Lenalee's lap as he fell asleep, breathing softly.

"K-Kan...da?" Lenalee was baffled when he fell asleep within seconds, but then reasoned with herself that Kanda's fever had only just calmed down. Maybe that's why the conversation went so weird?

She shifted him, laying him down on the bed and covering him with a blanket, frowning softly.

Allen had mentioned to her that he thought Leverrier was hiding something from them about Kanda. He's also mentioned the name Alma. Was there actually a deeper meaning to this conversation?

Lenalee stared at Kanda's sleeping face, getting to her feet, deciding that rather than thinking about this herself, she should talk with Allen and Lavi to see what their thoughts on it were.


	11. Chapter 11

**Trust**

 **Summary:** After a reaction between Kanda's and a newly retrieved Innocence fragment, the Japanese Exorcist turns into a child. With Leverrier believing that the reaction was caused by betrayal, how was Allen meant to make everyone believe Kanda was innocent? How was he meant to get Kanda to trust him when he could only remember what the Order had put him through?

 **Chapter Eleven**

 **Alma Cells**

" _Ow_ , Lenalee, you don't normally kick this hard when we're just training-" Lavi was the first to notice how frustrated Lenalee was at the moment, who seemed to be taking it out on him during her spar. "What's wrong?"

She paused mid kick, even though Lavi had already raised his arms to guard himself, then let out a drawn out sigh.

"Kanda said some strange things yesterday," she responded. "I went and asked Leverrier about it, but he told me not to pry and not to say a word about what Kanda had said. It sounds…"

"Like he really is trying to hide something from us." Lavi finished, then glanced across the training room to where Allen was sparring with a now recovered Marie. It appeared that they were deep in conversation as well, exchanging palm strikes. Not far from them, the redhead picked up on the CROW that were watching him, their faces uncovered for once.

"I'm really worried about Kanda," Lenalee admitted, raising her leg in a kick, though a lot gentler than the last one. "I was showing him photographs. I think he wants to remember Lavi, I really do."

"I would think so," Lavi caught her leg and then moved in for a punch, which she moved out the way from and blocked his arm. "We keep going on about how we knew him when he was older, so it must be getting to him that we know some things that he doesn't."

"His lack of memories almost got him killed," Lenalee added, pausing. "That Level Four-"

"I know Lenalee," he responded softly. "Try not to think about it too much."

They continued to spar in silence, Lavi allowing attention to focus on the conversations happening in the room. It was easy to tell that people talking in hushed voices were probably talking about Kanda or Allen, though most weren't talking at all, only Allen and Marie seemed to be having a conversation without being tense.

"You're wide open Allen!" Speaking of which, Allen must have been pretty distracted himself, since Marie had managed to strike him in the gut, causing him to stumble back— right onto one of the CROW members.

"A-Ah, sorry about that," Allen offered a soft smile to the CROW that was staring down at him. "I should be paying more attention, shouldn't I—"

He reached down, his red hair touched the arm that had extended out to block his fall, though within seconds Crown Clown activated without being asked as he felt a sudden pulse of energy, which resulted in him getting blasted into one of the pillars, cracking it. He stayed there for a few seconds, before falling to the ground, reaching a hand up to clutch at his bleeding head.

"Allen! Are you okay?" It was Marie who was at his side first, his expression furrowed in concern.

"What was that about all of a sudden?!" Allen was angered, but he paused when he caught sight of the CROWS arm, activating his eye as he tried to establish whether or not the man in front of him was human.

"What are you doing, Goushi?" one of the CROW spoke to the man who had thrown Allen with strength enough to crack a pillar.

"A side effect. It got activated responding to the Innocence." He responded, looking away from Allen, his expression unreadable.

'Is it possible...that this man is an Akuma?' Allen thought, his gaze never leaving the man known as Goushi. 'But it is strange. I can't see the soul that is meant to be inside of him…Who is he?!'

"What do you think you're doing, Goushi?!" Allen heard Howard Link talk, standing in front of him, his tone clipped. "I'm assigned with Allen Walker. Why are you CROWS trying to harm him?"

"Inspector Howard Link, was it?" the shortest of the Crow spoke, then glancing at his comrade. "Goushi."

Goushi then deactivated his arm, glancing to the side without saying another word. Another one then stepped forwards, bowing slightly.

"Our apologies, Allen Walker," the man known as Madarao spoke, a half smirk, half smile gracing his features. "We're half-Akuma who have been genetically engineered by humans. Hence, our bodies reject Innocence. Please pardon us."

Allen's eyes widened at the information, gritting his teeth. Why on earth would the Order do something like that? Why did these CROW seem so pleased that they were half- _Akuma?_ He got to his feet, deactivating Crown Clown before turning his back on them.

"We're known as Third's, Allen Walker. We're Exorcists, just like you."

Third's? Allen paused for a few moments, the Level Four coming to mind when it spoke to Kanda, referring to him as being a Second. He stood still, thinking about it, then left the training hall without another word.

Lenalee and Lavi exchanged looks, then quickly followed after him.

 **Trust**

A few weeks had passed since then. Most of the Exorcists had been scattered across the world in search for Innocence, but things had gone horribly wrong. Flocks of Akuma had appeared around the world and had started attacking them, though at the same time appeared to be looking for something at the same time. Innocence? No, it didn't seem like they were looking for that. Were they just out to kill Exorcists?

Allen jumped off the edge of a cliff and spun rapidly, slicing through multiple Akuma before landing in the bottom of a valley. He glanced upwards, seeing that the demons were swooping down on him, causing him to raise his sword and blast energy from it, annihilating them in one hit.

"I don't...have the strength to keep up that kind of attack…" he panted softly, feeling sweat rolling down his face. "What exactly am I-"

Before he could finish, two Third's landed beside him, Madarao and Tokusa. They remained crouched, their arms transforming, Madarao speaking calmly.

"Activate Primordial Void!" the ground turned black, sucking in the Akuma that dared to come, the white-haired teen watching them. "Get swallowed and go to hell!"

Allen couldn't help but be amazed when all the Akuma got sucked in, before shuddering when his eyes glowed red, revealing to him what was happening to their souls.

"The Akuma…" he spoke slowly, his eyes going wide. "Their souls…"

Their souls then vanished into a pool that dried up, disappearing into oblivion.

"Oh, did the poor Akuma's souls suffer?" Tokusa spoke, getting to his feet, a smug expression on his face. "I wish I had your ability to see it for myself."

"What was that?" Allen was immediately angered at the smirk on the Third's face, his silver eyes darkening.

"Sorry, did I upset you? This sympathy of yours, I can't help but find it anno- I mean," he paused, then continued. "The thing is, I actually enjoy destroying Akuma. Not only do I get to use my powers to save humanity, it allows me to provide sustenance for God and it fills my soul with an enormous sense of joy."

Allen watched him step away, glancing to the side. He felt anger build up at his words, but got distracted when he heard broken communication come from one of the Third's Golems.

" _...Mo...yashi…_ " he turned towards the black golem, recognising the voice. " _...can you hear me…?...this fucker doesn't even work-_ "

"I can hear you, Kanda," Allen responded, coming closer to the golem. "Where are you, at the Order still?"

" _...No. That Leverrier bastard let me out since we were short on hands._ "

Allen should have known that he'd let Kanda out for that. He let out a sigh, then looked thoughtful.

"How are things on your end?" he asked. "We just had a wave of Akuma attack. How about you?"

" _Yeah, they were here as well. But I have some stupid Exorcist wannabe with me-_ "

" _My name is Tewaku, you stupid Second-_ "

Again with referring to Kanda as a Second. But Kanda shouldn't have any connection to the Third's, right? He was human. He wasn't half-Akuma, or Allen would know about it.

"Where are you located, Kanda?" he couldn't help but ask, wanting to know where the Japanese male was on the off-chance something happened to him.

" _...defending a camp in Jordan._ "

"Jordan?" Allen sounded surprised. "That's pretty far out. Just be careful-"

"That's nice to know," the third's froze, Allen whipping around at the familiar voice. "That means Wisely is closest to him. Convenient."

Tokusa suddenly screamed when his lower arms were detached within seconds, falling onto his knees.

"Good to see you. Long time, huh, boy? We're not here on serious business...just hunting some Exorcists." The Noah of Pleasure spoke, two other Noah standing by his side.

"Tyki-"

"You evil bastards!" Madarao suddenly ran forwards, equipping himself with explosive seals, throwing them and causing a large explosion, causing the area to be surrounded in dust. Allen moved forwards quickly and grabbed Tokusa and then ran with Madarao into of of the caves, hiding in there.

"Damn it," Allen placed Tokusa down, checking him over. "The golem got destroyed. Are you okay-"

"Don't touch me!" Tokusa shouted at him, gasping and panting in pain, glaring daggers at him. "I can't believe we ran away with the Noah right in front of us!"

'Tyki said they were hunting Exorcists...that would explain all of the Akuma…' Allen thought, then looked back at Madarao. "We have to get back to the camp! He needs to be treated!"

"Leave him be...his wounds have already closed."

Allen glanced back, staring at Tokusa's arms- and true enough, the wounds had already sealed up, though he didn't regain his limbs.

"Amazing...you have the same healing powers as Kanda…"

"Oh, is that a fact?" he bit back, then calmed as he recognised the name. "Oh, wait a minute, I almost forget. He and Alma Karma. My healing power only closes up the wounds. It's nice and all, but it's not as good as the Seconds power."

"Alma? The Second?" the name Kanda kept mentioning was brought up, which made him furrow his brow. "What are you talking about?"

"Madarao," Tokusa called. "I'm ready now."

Allen watched as Madarao approached Tokusa, activated his arm and pressing it against his chest, a faint glow emitting from it.

"Wait- what are you doing?!" he reached out to try and stop Madarao, which earned him a glare.

"I'm going to absorb his body."

"Absorb him?! But he's your friend!" Allen couldn't help but feel disgusted at the fact that Madarao had no hesitation in disposing in Tokusa, whatever the reason.

"His wounds have robbed him of his Akuma power," he replied bluntly, focusing on Tokusa's pained expression. "There's no point in him continuing to live. So I'll absorb him and take in the Alma cells from his body."

"Wait, that's just insane!" Allen was quick to move and push Madarao away, quickly earning a growl from the other male. "What the hell is this Alma stuff you keep talking about?!"

"Alma Karma...the first Human Akuma parent," Tokusa ground out. "The first to merge with the nucleus of an Akuma egg. We're created from his cells…"

"Ever since we absorbed the Alma cells," Madarao continued, staring Allen in the eye. "We accepted that one day we would become parent bodies ourselves.

"Parent...bodies?"

"The Alma cells within us continue to multiply when we absorb Akuma. We're offered to god when we become parent bodies and our cells will be used to create new Third's," Madarao nodded his head at his explanation. "Our anti-Akuma strength grows with each generation, ensuring our odds of helping to save the world. And that is the purpose of the Third Exorcist plan."

"So they think they can keep turning humans into half-Akuma?" Allen snapped, his brow furrowing. "I don't think that's right."

"There's no way of knowing when a new Innocence Accommodator will appear, and the Order doesn't have time to be sitting around waiting. They _need_ us."

"But-"

"Look, we don't expect you to understand," Tokusa growled suddenly, glaring at Allen as well. "You all had it so easy, the Innocence simply _chose_ you to become Exorcists...but our desire to save the world is the only real reason we have to live. So I'm asking you not to interfere! This is my last wish, to be absorbed and to become a part of Madarao. I refuse to have my life taken from me by the hands of a Noah!"

"Don't get so worked up," Allen tensed when a hand stuck out of the rock that Tokusa was laying against, covering his face. "Despite what you've heard, we're not the real enemy."

"Tokusa!" Madarao made a move to attack the Noah that had shown his face, only to have his chest pierced by Tyki, Allen unable to help as he got kicked across the face with brute force and got knocked unconscious.

"I'd be happy to tell you though. Do you want to know the name of the person who will end you all?" the Noah holding Tokusa smirked widely, then whispered in the Third's ear, whose eyes widened as he heard the name. Then, without warning, his body was snapped into pieces, his blood spraying everywhere.

All three Noah's laughed, satisfied with their work, then one of the Noah grabbing Allen by the hair and dragging him along.

 **Trust**

"Moyashi?" when Kanda didn't get a response, he growled in frustration, holding Mugen in his hands. "Stupid fuck, probably wasn't paying attention and got himself-"

 _ **'Maybe you should be the one paying attention, Yu,'**_ his Innocence spoke, causing him to turn around when he felt another presence. _**'That third Exorcist has fainted.'**_

"Because she's fucking useless," he muttered, his eyes resting on the Noah that was standing a fair distance away from him. "Oi, bastard, who the fuck are you?"

"Quite the tongue you've got on you, Exorcist," was his calm reply. "You wouldn't happen to be Yu Kanda, would you?"

 _ **'Don't tell him.'**_

Kanda glared him down, staying silent as the Noah smirked slightly.

"From your expression, I can tell that you are, indeed, Yu Kanda," he gave a small bow. "My name is Wisely of the evil eye. Does the name Alma mean anything to you?"

Kanda froze in place, his eyes narrowing as he raised Mugen.

"How do you know Alma?!"

"Ah, so it does mean something to you," the Noah, now known as Wisely, raised his hand. "Perfect, because I need to use your brain for a while for the party we're throwing."

 _ **'Yu, don't look at him! DON'T!'**_

Though it was already too late, Kanda feeling his head pulse in pain as his eyes rolled, stumbling back as Alma's voice rung in his ears.

' _I have faith, that when this Holy War is finally over...the world will be free...free of evil…'_

"A-Al...ma…"

And then he lost consciousness, landing on the ground with a dull _thud._


	12. Chapter 12

**Trust**

 **Summary:** After a reaction between Kanda's and a newly retrieved Innocence fragment, the Japanese Exorcist turns into a child. With Leverrier believing that the reaction was caused by betrayal, how was Allen meant to make everyone believe Kanda was innocent? How was he meant to get Kanda to trust him when he could only remember what the Order had put him through?

 **A/N:** Was watching the anime so that I could get the dialogue, but I was watching in english dub, so you might find it's a bit different from the Japanese version.

 **Chapter Twelve**

 **Allen's Welcome**

"His head is so pretty, you didn't have to smash it Wisely!"

"He's a Second, he can take it, despite his appearance…"

"You are so reckless!"

His head throbbed. He could barely find the energy to wake himself up. The Innocence inside him had been calling out to him the entire time, but Kanda failed to register it. He could hear voices around him, but couldn't recognise them because they sounded too warped.

Wisely sat on the floor, next to the unconscious form of Kanda, looking bored as Rhode Kamelot, who was in doll form, scolded him for his rough treatment of the Japanese Exorcist. His attention was turned to Leverrier and the immobilised scientists and higher ups of the order, but focused more on Zu Mei Chang, whose thoughts caught his attention.

"Oh that we are, old master. He's the only one capable of waking Alma Karma up now," Wisely then glanced at Leverrier, a smirk tugging his lips. "It's true. His mind is shut off to the point that I can't even peek with my evil eye, but that is why Yu Kanda is here. You'll all be destroyed by the monster you created."

Alma? Kanda felt his hand twitch, his eyes slowly opening as he pushed himself up into a half kneeling position, only to freeze when he saw that he had been laying on glass, which was covering a pool of water. Inside, was a male, his skin unnaturally white, his eyes looking like glass and his entire body covered in scars. He looked human, but at the same nothing like one. Kanda stared at him with wide eyes, ignoring the fact that he started to see lotuses blooming around him, speaking in a low breath.

"Al...ma…?"

"That's right," Wisely spoke next to him, noticing that Kanda didn't even turn to face him. "This is Alma Karma...your best friend."

Rhode got up and then ran over to another Noah, clinging onto his shoulder.

"Daddy, where's our guest of honour? I thought you, Tyki and Mercym caught him and the Third's!"

"We did," the Noah, who was known as Sheril, sighed. "But he regained consciousness and nearly hacked my arm off. He got away from us and managed to grab one of the Third's, but I managed to keep one as bait."

He then tapped the coffin he was sitting on, which caused Rhode to giggle happily and cling more, glancing to the Millennium Earl as he caught everyone's attention with his cheerful attitude.

"The time has come to rouse this sleepyhead! Rise and shine Alma, it's the dawn of man's judgement!"

"Please Lord Millennium, our guest had yet to arrive-" Sheril paused when he saw the ground glow and ripped below him, his expression going blank. "You've got to be kidding me, he's attacking from below?!"

Within seconds, Allen burst out from an Ark gate, along with Tyki Mikk, knocking the coffin to the side, the lid coming off and Tokusa falling out of it, Sheril landing face first on the floor. His eyes flashed, his sword of Exorcism in his hand as he took a swipe at Tyki, who had moved to counter him.

"And there he is, the rosy thorn that is always caught in my side...Allen Walker!"

"Leave my friends alone!" he only just missed Tyki, both of them falling, the Noah in question calling out to the Earl—but it was too late, for they both ended up landing and crushing the creator of Akuma, standing on him.

"I gave you a fair warning, Lord Millennium," Tyki spoke, glancing down at him. "You just didn't move in time."

"Wait, what? The Earl-?!"

"Pleased you could make it, boy," Tyki offered him a smirk. "It wasn't easy getting you to come through one of our Ark gates."

"What the hell are you trying to accomplish here?" Allen was quick to glance around the room, seeing familiar faces lined up against the wall. "Director Leverrier? You too Johnny? Section chief Reever?!"

"We're sorry Allen!" Reever and Johnny cried. "They've taken us all hostage…"

"Then this place…" he heard movement, then turned his head around as he saw Kanda stumbling to his feet. "Kanda! How did you get here? You were defending the camp in-"

"Remember boy, we have our own Ark gates. So moving him from one place to another isn't that difficult. His camp was obliterated." Tyki seemed calm, despite the heated glare he was receiving. "Calm down. It's not like he's dead."

"Then why is he here?" Allen hissed, his eyes focusing on Kanda, who still hadn't moved from where he stood. "What did you do to him?"

There was a sudden gasp of pain, Allen turning his attention to Sheril, who had kicked Tokusa.

"Tokusa!"

"Why do you look so surprised? You were jumping through gates to try and rescue this Third, were you not?" Sheril resisted the urge to laugh, resting his food on Tokusa.

"Bastard...what have you done with Madarao?" Tokusa growled, trying to shrug the Noah's foot off him him, despite how much pain he was in.

"He's probably tangling with Mercym right now," Tyki responded. "I'd say we've done a pretty good job in splitting you all up."

"...Walker, be careful," Tokusa was quick to change the subject, looking at the white-haired teen. "This Noah...he can control your body with just his mind. He broke my limbs without even touching them…!"

"Then everyone here is-"

"Yes. I've got everyone here strung up like puppets, every single of of them is under the control of me, Desiras," Sheril laughed, eyes sparkling. "Just so you know, I'm a complete and total sadist, so if you don't want me to twist and snap them into a menagerie of balloon animals...well, I'd recommend that you do as we say Walker."

"So what do you want me to do, lay down so you can kill me?" because he probably would do that if he was told to. Tyki let out a sigh, rolling his eyes.

"Jeez boy, we came here to welcome you to the _fold_ ," Tyki stared at him intently. Allen then shot him a blank expression.  
"Welcome me? Have you forgotten that I'm your enemy?"

"Guys...I just wanted to remind you that you both are standing on our beloved Millennium Earl…" Sheril didn't get to sat much more since the Earl seemed to have enough of being stood on, bouncing both Tyki and Allen off of his back, moving at a shockingly fast speed as he managed to grab Allen by the throat, pinning his only arm as the sword of Exorcism fell out of his grasp.

"Allen Walker," the Earl still sounded oddly cheerful, his grip tightening around the teen's throat. "Say goodbye to the Order clown, you've successfully won over our hearts~"

"I what-" Allen tried to move his neck out of his grasp, which only caused it to be tightened.

"You are not just some replacement pianist that has been decreed by the Fourteenth...you are in fact the _Fourteenth himself_ , aren't you?"

A lot of people in the room gasped, though some didn't seem too surprised as others. Allen's eyes widened as he struggled, the Earl looking pleased at his response.

"Now that the cat is out of the bag, I have no intentions of letting you return to your precious Order again!"

Allen felt like he was being crushed, his breath escaping him as the Earl came closer to his face, speaking to him directly.

"You know that I manufacture Akuma, they're the bedrock of my whole operation. They're my limbs and my eyes, whatever they see, I see. And then you caught my attention— you _spoke_ to me through that Level Four and I listened. It was quite a shock to say the least!"

"What are you talking about? I never said-!" a pulse of dark energy went through his body and he couldn't help but choke, his head slamming back into the ground as his silver hues bled into gold, a smirk gracing his face as his tone lowered. "Okay, you got me~"

Everyone froze in place, including the Earl himself, his grip on Allen's arm slackening so that the white-haired teen could reach up and cup his face, a gesture that Allen himself would never give to the Earl.

"I just wanted to reach out to you...and tell you that I was finally back. I knew you would come for me brother, but this time I…" Allen suddenly sat up, coming face to face with the Earl as an ear-splitting grin cracked his face, along with a laugh. "...will _kill_ you for sure, and after you're dead and gone, I'll _take your place_ as the _Millennium Earl._ "

"So all this time that's what your murderous treachery was all about…" everyone in the room was tense as Allen's eyes flooded back silver, his expression filled with pain as he pushed away from the Earl, rolling onto his front and gasping for air.  
"No!" he hit his head off of the floor. "I am _not_ the Fourteenth! Agh- what's...happening...m-my insides—"

He then choked up blood, his veins prickling and showing through his skin. He let out a cry of agony, writhing slightly, before sitting up abruptly, glaring the Earl down with the most murderous intent he could muster.

"I refuse to accept that!" he then smashed his head forward, headbutting the Creator of Akuma and sent him flying onto his back. "Listen up Earl...and you, the Fourteenth, you listen up too! My name is _Allen Walker_ and I'm a damn Exorcist! I will not be anyone else! I'd rather die than get dragged into your stupid sibling quarrel!"

Wisely raised a brow at the scene, then glanced at Rhode, who had taken to his shoulder instead at this point.

"Wow Rhode, this kid is starting to pique my interest- AH!" Wisely didn't see it coming as Kanda suddenly rush past him, grabbing onto Rhode and then charged at the Earl, the Noah's eyes widening. "Lord Millennium!"

Kanda thought these Noah were stupid. They didn't even try to restrain him. Hell, the didn't even take Mugen away from him. He was quick to take a slash at the Earl, but was blocked by Tyki.

"Wisely! How could you let him take my precious Rhode!" Sheril seemed to be in despair, making an unmanly screech as Allen rushed over to him and kicked him, grabbing Tokusa. "Damn it!"

"Are you okay, Tokusa?" Allen led the third along, then caught sight of Kanda skidding back, the doll Rhode was in caught in his teeth. "Wait, Kanda, you can suddenly move?!"

"What of it?" he grumbled, shooting Allen a glare. "Someone had to."

"You've been frozen motionless this entire time…" Allen responded bluntly, feeling his eyebrow twitch at the Japanese male's response.

"I was _strategically_ assessing the situation." Allen wanted to snort at his response, watching as he took the doll from his teeth and started to undo the ribbon around her neck.

"Ugh! Quit undressing me, you big perv!" Rhode whined, struggling uselessly as the ribbon was taken from her.

"Shut the fuck up," Kanda growled, ignoring her cries. "I don't know where my hair string went, so I'm taking this instead."

"That's the only reason you captured her?!" Allen was in disbelief, watching as Kanda moved to tie his hair away from his face. "Though I guess purple does suit you- Kanda, I was just joking-!"

"Shut up," he repeated. "Or I'll kill you."

They both froze in place as it felt like an earthquake suddenly hit, struggling to keep their balance as tube like wiring shot from the walls and ground, wrapping around everyone and blocking off the exit.

"Oh you lowly worms...what will it take to make you understand…?" Sheril's tone was dark now, most likely pissed that Rhode was in Kanda's grasp. "Especially you, the Fourteenth."

"I was dead serious about never letting you go back to the Order," the Earl said with glee. "Trust me Allen Walker, by the time I'm done with you I'll make it so that you choose to leave the Order of your own volition."

"I'd never-!"

"Don't you get it? This little get-together is your leaving party!"

With that, Allen and Kanda's gazes were brought on the body that was ripped out of the ground, the white-haired teen's expression going blank while Kanda's darkened.

"What...the hell is that…"

Kanda gripped his sword tightly, hearing Alma's voice ring through his ears. No matter what they said to him, this couldn't be Alma...it just couldn't be. He refused to believe it.

Because if it was, how on earth had he gotten in that state in the first place?


	13. Chapter 13

**Trust**

 **Summary:** After a reaction between Kanda's and a newly retrieved Innocence fragment, the Japanese Exorcist turns into a child. With Leverrier believing that the reaction was caused by betrayal, how was Allen meant to make everyone believe Kanda was innocent? How was he meant to get Kanda to trust him when he could only remember what the Order had put him through?

 **A/N:** Going to be a long chapter, since I don't want to drag this out over multiple chapters. Reviews would be appreciated since I spent a lot of time on this one.

 **Chapter Thirteen**

 **Yu's Memories**

"...Who the hell is that?" Allen spoke, still supporting Tokusa as he stared at the deformed body that was held above their heads.

"Alma Karma," Tokusa responded, gritting his teeth. "He's the progenitor of us Third's...he was once like Yu Kanda, a test subject for artificial apostles."

"What?" Allen's eyes widened, then glanced to the side as he saw Kanda looking the other way, staying silent, his hair covering his face. "Kanda-"

It suddenly clicked into place. Why Kanda kept asking for Alma, why he was so strange around them, why he was weary of ever going to the medical wing or being near the scientists. Allen was about to call out to him, but Kanda's expression went blank as he looked up, holding Mugen in his hands firmly.

"No idea what you're talking about," everyone stared at Kanda dumbstruck. "Don't know who he is either?"

"I'm sorry...but what did you just say?" the Earl spoke, his tone disbelieving.

"You heard me," Kanda narrowed his eyes. "Who is that?"

Wisely then moved closer to the person who was supposedly Alma, pointing at him.

"Am I _supposed to know_ who that is?" Kanda rolled his eyes, then glanced to the side once more. He could hear his Innocence ringing in his ears now, warning him.

' _ **Yu, you need to leave. You aren't ready for this. Let me take over so you can-'**_

"Shut the fuck up and leave me alone, I'm not in the mood for you right now," Kanda snarled out loud, making everyone look at each other in confusion, having no idea who the Japanese Exorcist was talking to. "I'll kill these bastards and then I'll be taking my leave."

"Wisely…"

"Don't give me that look! I don't know why he doesn't recognise him!" Wisely looked thoughtful, examining Kanda's form. Was it something to do with the fact that Kanda appeared to be a child? Could he genuinely not remember? "It's weird...I tried to peek earlier, but his memories were...hard to access…"

"Hard to access?" Tyki shot him a glare. "So much for being able to read people's minds."

"Shut up Joyd," Wisely snapped, raising his hand. "I'll just have to peek again and-"

"No," Allen then suddenly stepped in front of Kanda, shielding him from view. "You're not going to do anything to him. I won't _let_ you."

At this point, Kanda was cursing his height to high hell, since all he could see was Allen's back, he raised Mugen, fully intent on slicing him a bit, but his Innocence interrupted.

 _ **'I wouldn't do that Yu,'**_ she warned. _**'Cutting Allen Walker with Innocence will lead to dire consequences.'**_

"Are you just playing stupid?" Kanda had released Rhode some time ago and she was now on his shoulder, staring at him. "This is _the_ Alma, you know, the one you _killed_ nine years ago-"

"What?" Rhode paused as Kanda shot her a look, though the emotion in his eyes was...unrecognisable. "I did _what_?"

"You _killed_ Alma Karma," she responded sweetly. "Well, _tried_ would be a better word, since he's still alive and kicking."

"But I would _never_ kill Alma," Allen was quick to hear the tremble in Kanda's voice, watching as he grabbed Rhode by the face and squeezed hard. "That...that _thing_ is not Alma. It can't be."

"But that's him right there...well, comatose and a lab rat," Rhode responded, giggling softly. "The Order _hid_ this from you. Hid that he was alive from you."

"I'll fucking rip you to shreds," he snapped, squeezing her head. "Stop telling me such bullshit."

"They led you to believe that you killed Alma Karma and then stuffed him away. For nine whole years all in the name of their crusade against the Noah. If you want the gory details-"

"I already told you, I would _never_ kill Alma," he then dropped Mugen, using both hands to rip her head off, letting her fall to the floor. "Die already."

"Kanda, doing something like that won't work on Rhode-" Allen paused, realising that Kanda didn't even know who Rhode was at the moment. "Don't let her provoke you!"

"I don't understand," Rhode managed to still speak, even though her head was off and stuffing was coming out of her doll body. "I thought you would have been happy to see Alma, Yu~"

"Kanda, don't listen to her-"

"Maybe it's something to do with the person that got in between you two… didn't you kill him over a woman?"

"Kanda, don't listen to her! She's trying to provoke you because they have some plan in mind to use you-"

But it was already too late, Kanda's eyes going wide as the image of the blonde woman, the blonde woman his _Innocence_ had taken the form of when he had died came to mind, along with a flurry of memories, which caused him to reach up and clutch at his head.

"If you can't get it through your skull that that person other there is Alma, I guess Alma can convince you himself!" Allen placed Tokusa down and ran for Kanda, just as a glowing eye appeared below him and Rhode.

"I gave you fair warning when we first met, Yu Kanda," Wisely's voice rung through the air, his expression turning maniacal. "We need your brain, it is the only way we can awaken Alma Karma."

Allen tried to at least block Kanda's view of Wisely, but he had already looked up and stared right at him, his eyes going blank— and the white-haired teen got dragged into it as well when he shot Wisely a look.  
All went black.

 **Trust**

"Hey...can you hear me?"

Allen's eyes slowly opened, blinking his bleariness away, only to come face to face with a small child who was staring down at him, hands on his knees and pouting.

"Please tell me you're finally awake…"

Allen glanced around himself, finding that he was in a dimly lit room filled with steaming water pools. He then looked back at the child, silver hues flickering in confusion.

"If you're awake, raise up your hand!"

Allen wondered if he was dreaming, but raised his hand anyway, watching as the boy tilted his head, his eyes lighting up in joy. He suddenly crouched over him, causing Allen to yelp, only to realize that the boy was now hovering over one of the water pools.

"Alright! I'm so happy!" the boy said excitedly. "I was afraid that I was the only one!"

"Okay...I guess he's not talking to me then…" Allen sat up and looked over to whatever the boy was talking to, rubbing his head. "Where am I…? What is this place?"

"They already told me that your name was 'Yu'!" that caught Allen's attention, the boy laughing joyfully. The white-haired teen watched as a hand poked out of the pool of water, pointing at the boy. "Who, me? Sorry, I'm kind of shy but… my name...they call me Alma!"

Allen gasped, staring at the boy who had introduced himself as Alma, even though Allen's only image of him was the one of the male who didn't even look human. Was this child really the same person?

"Happy Birthday Yu!" Alma then reached out and grabbed the hand that stuck out of the pool, Yu Kanda being pulled out, his drenched hair covering most of his face, eyes glassy with confusion as he shivered. "Haha, yeah, it's cold, isn't it? Hold on- Doctor Edgar!"

"No way…" Allen scrambled to his feet, staring at the two of them. "K-Kanda?! This can't be real..."

"Well this is weird…" Allen jumped when he felt arms wrap around his shoulders, a pouting Rhode, now in human form, draped over him. "Looks like we got caught in the crossfire of Kanda's brainwaves…"

"Why are you here Rhode?!"

"Shh…" she then smiled. "Just watch what happens."

Allen was about to bring his attention to a man who Alma had called Doctor Edgar, who was wrapping Kanda in his white coat, helping him to his feet. It was then that Allen heard another voice, a female, speaking behind them.

" **I'd rather you didn't watch. Yu wouldn't want you to know about his past,"** Allen looked and saw a beautiful blonde woman standing behind him, wearing a white silk dress, with blonde hair cascading down her back, her eyes a sparkling emerald as she crossed her arms. **"And you shouldn't be here either, Rhode Kamelot."**

"And here she is, the woman Kanda killed Alma for," Rhode spoke gleefully. "Though of course you aren't really that woman...I sense Innocence though."

"Innocence?" Allen looked at the woman, then recognised the glowing emerald eyes. "Wait! Are you the one who saved Kanda from that Level Four?"

 **"How strange of you to talk to me like I am human, Allen Walker,"** she responded, coming over to stand by them. **"But yes, I am the one who saved him. I am the Innocence that resides within his body."**

"Then why didn't you help him?!" Allen shot her a look. "You could have stopped them from getting under his-"

 **"I wanted to!"** the Innocence snapped, tensing slightly. **"But he blocked me off. His memories were about to break free when he saw Alma in that state."**

Allen shut up as Rhode stared the Innocence down, a smile crossing her face as she licked her lips.

"Say, you wouldn't happen to be—" she paused when the scene suddenly changed to the medical room, Allen watched as mass panic spread across what appeared to be a medical room, both the white-haired teen and Rhode's expression changing to fright when the dodged a table that was tossed in their direction, even though it wouldn't have really hurt them. "Oh, Kanda and Alma are fighting. This is interesting~"

"How is this interesting?" Allen muttered in disbelief. "Kanda looks like the devil-"

" **Kindly refrain from calling my host such a thing,"** The Innocence shot him a glare. **"Or I will hurt you."**

Allen didn't know whether or not she should take the Innocence seriously, but chose to watch Kanda and Alma instead of responding.

"Stop fighting you two!" doctors and scientists were trying to split the two of them up, but they seemed to be a hell of a lot stronger than them. Allen watched as Alma screeched, getting thrown against the wall, denting it and making it crumble.  
"Holy crap…" Allen moved away from Alma, watching as said boy sat up, tears in his eyes.

"You two need to calm down! Take a breath!" Doctor Edgar tried to reason with Kanda, who was standing on a table, his aura deadly.

"I don't like that look he's giving us…" another doctor cowered slightly, backing off.

"He's a demon- there's a demon inside him!" they freaked out as Kanda glared down at them, cracking his neck to the side.

"YU! YOU THREW ME FULL FORCE, DIDN'T YOU?" Alma shouted, growing just as mad as Kanda, but had tears streaming down his face. Kanda stuck his tongue out, his face twitching, which just seemed to upset Alma more. "DAMN IT YU!"

Alma then charged and leapt at Kanda, throwing himself full force and forcing them both to fall down. Allen wanted to break them up, Rhode seemed to be amused and the Innocence was slapping herself across the face.

" **I really don't want to witness this again…"** Allen looked at her questioningly, watching as she narrowed her eyes. **"Honestly, he just couldn't control his emotions at all-"**

"What are you talking about? Witnessing this again?" he then deadpanned. "Are you the reason Kanda can only remember so much?"

The Innocence went quiet, Rhode shooting her a somewhat knowing look before the continued to watch Kanda and Alma fight. Allen always thought that Alma was Kanda's friend, from the way the Japanese always spoke about him...though it didn't seem to be the case here.

Within a few seconds, it jumped to another memory, of them both sitting in a medical room, refusing to look at each other.

"This is a serious matter," a doctor had his hand resting on Alma's shoulder, staring at him sternly. "It's not good. You seem to have no control over your emotions lately. You must remember that you two exist to save the human race. Act like the apostles you are."

"I'm sorry Doctor Sahlins...I…" Alma trailed off, biting at his lip. "...I just wanted to spend time with Yu…"

Kanda visibly cringed, his expression darkening as he shot Alma a look.

"You are so damn _creepy!_ " he yelled. "Quit stalking me! Do me a favour and just die!"

Some friendship they had. Allen wondered why the hell Kanda even wanted to know about Alma back at the order if their relationship was this bad.

"YU!" Alma broke down into tears, picking up the medical bed and then throwing it at him, which resulted in a fight to break out between them, the entire room being destroyed by the end of it.

Allen blinked, ignoring the fact that Rhode was clinging to his arm and watching with him, the Innocence shooting the Noah of Dreams a pointed look, but said nothing.

" **I'll warn you now,"** the Innocence spoke lightly, closing her eyes. **"Watching Yu's memories will cloud your judgement on the Order. It certainly clouded mine, but you mustn't act rashly, Allen Walker."**

Allen could only look at the Innocence questioningly, only to see the grave expression covering her features. Were Kanda's memories really that bad?

 **Trust**

Kanda couldn't bring himself to understand what was happening. He felt himself moving, but he had no control over his actions. He was certain that he had already had this talk with Doctor Edgar, but he couldn't change the course of the conversation. Was he dreaming?

"So all of these holes…" Kanda knew what they were talking about. He could remember it clearly. He felt Edgar rest his hand on his shoulder, looking down at him and smiling.

"That's right...the other apostles like you are asleep in them." Edgar confirmed, watching as Kanda stepped a little closer to one of the pools, as if trying to figure out what his reaction would be.

"Are humans born this way?" he asked, though already knew the answer. Edgar had told him, so had Lenalee. Why must he talk about this again? "Born out of holes like this?"

"Ah…" Edgar crouched next to him, closing his eyes. "No, you see, human babies are born from their mothers wombs."

"Their...mothers…?" Kanda responded, a bit quieter, looking over at the blonde doctor who was now level with him. "And what are...they?"

"Well…" Edgar tilted his head to the side and smiled, letting out a low sigh. "A mother is a woman and when she loves a man they make a human baby together."

"So they make them…" Kanda paused, eyes flickering while he bit the inside of his cheek. "...with love...?"

Before Edgar could answer, a flying golem that was beside him buzzed to life, a woman's voice being heard:

'Doctor Edgar! Alma is not in his room and we can't find him!'

"What? He's gone?" Edgar looked befuddled, looking thoughtful. Kanda bowed his head, furrowing his brow.

"So what is...love?" he spoke, not being heard while Edgar had a conversation through the golem. He felt his heart clench, in memory and in himself, since he still didn't fully know the answer.

' **You know what love is, or have you forgotten what we shared?'** Kanda gasped softly, turning around to where the voice came from- but he saw nothing. Though he recognised the voice straight away.

His...Innocence…? No, it couldn't be. He stared at the pillar that was behind him, hearing sneezing, Edgar letting out a laugh as he turned as well.

"There he is," he glanced at the golem. "Renny, I found him. Following Yu like usual."

Alma peeked his head out from behind the pillar, looking sheepish as Kanda's expression darkened when the other boy looked away, fidgeting nervously.

"I...I didn't follow!" he tried to lie, gulping. "But can I...j-join you-"

Alma never got to finish as Kanda ran straight past him, a scowl on his face as he exited the room of sleeping apostles.

"Yu! Alma was saying something!"

"I just...wanted to join you guys…" and then Alma burst into tears, wailing loudly, but Kanda didn't turn back, even when Edgar called out to him.

"Yu! Why can't you be nice to him?!"

Kanda could hear his memories thoughts, but his current thoughts were clashing with them.

' _Stupid Alma. He's such a little creep...how can he be happy in a place like this?'_

The Japanese child bit down on his lip, angered. Kanda could remember thinking these thoughts, but why had he thought of them in the first place? He and Alma were friends...weren't they?

...

In the background, Allen watched the entire thing, then glanced back at Rhode and the Innocence who had their eyes closed.

"If we can watch his memories, then where are Kanda? And Alma?" Allen looking around himself. "I haven't seen them."

 **"Yu and Alma are here, but they're trapped in their own bodies, witnessing it from the way they remember,"** the Innocence answered. **"The only reason we can see the memories like this is because both of their perspectives have been blended together."**

"You're quite clever, Innocence," Rhode whistled. "How do you know this?"

 **"I-"**

And then the scene suddenly changed, Allen jumping out of his skin when he heard agonizing screams.

 **Trust**

It hurt. No matter how many times the Innocence rejected him, they kept making him latch onto it again. He was hurting, but he was forced to keep going. Blood splattered as he got knocked back, landing on his back, his wounds steaming from the intense heat, his eyes wide in shock.

"Yu!"

"He's only gone into shock...Renny, assess the damage."

"Five hundred and ten seconds until regeneration...380 seconds before he can move."

Allen pressed himself against the wall, trying to figure out what on earth was going on. He glanced upwards to find an observation room high above them, containing Sahlins, Renny and Twi. He could see Kanda laying on the floor, covered in blood, but could see how insanely fast he was healing.

"Could Kanda...always heal this fast…?" He watched as Kanda managed to twitch his fingers, taking a deep breath in. "No...It takes Kanda at least a day or two-"

"You're being reckless Sahlins!"

"Reckless?" Sahlins seemed angered by her comment, still watching Kanda. "These are incredible results! In the past ninety years every single test subject attempting synchronization has become a fallen one! But we must produce results...the implementation of the Second Exorcist plan depends on our success."

'Doctor!' a communication broke through suddenly. 'Alma's gone into cardiac arrest!'

"He'll be fine!" Sahlins snapped. "If anyone can become an Accommodator, it's a Second."

'...Four hundred seconds until Alma heals…'

Allen couldn't believe this was happening. He tried to reach out to Kanda when two CROW picked him up by his arm and dragged him towards the... _Innocence_...barely looking conscious as his hands were rested on the wing like appendages of it, his body being pierced within seconds, causing him to cry out again.

"God...god damn you…" Kanda hissed, bowing his head and letting his hair cover his eyes. "Innocence-!"

The same thing happened again, Kanda's body getting ripped apart as he was shot back, falling on the ground and laying there in shock again.

"Five hundred and eighty seconds before Yu regenerates…"

Was this nightmare going to end for him? Allen clenched his fists, Rhode glancing up at him and smiling widely.  
"Remember Allen, these are just memories. This has already happened, so you can't stop it," Rhode clung to his arm tightly. "Yu Kanda was pretty good at hiding the Order's dark secrets, wasn't he?"

 **Trust**

When the scene changed again, Allen found himself standing in the room of water pools again. He couldn't help but peek inside them this time, seeing that there were, indeed, people seemingly asleep in them. Children. Probably none of them older than him.

"So Kanda…" Allen trailed off, then looked around himself to find that the Innocence and Rhode had disappeared. "Eh?"

He heard footsteps, assuming it was one of the two, but then he seen Kanda stop by one of the walls, leaning against it for support— but his eyes were distant, his body covered in bandages.

" _This is the quietest place...although it's cold,"_ Allen blinked, wondering if Kanda was talking to him, but when the child glanced down towards the floor, he knew that he was talking to himself. _"Damn you guys...sleeping so peacefully...!"_

Allen reached out when he saw tears well in Kanda's eyes, then slid down his face as he bit his lip.

" _Maybe I should go back to sleep…"_ the Japanese child let out a frustrated sigh. _"This world is dark and...it's very hard to breathe…"_

It took Allen to realize that Kanda wasn't even speaking. Was this...his thoughts? He stepped closer, standing in front of Kanda and waving a hand in front of his face, but he got no reaction. It just confirmed that Kanda had no idea that he was even here.

" _What on earth is going to…"_ Kanda then froze, as did Allen when he suddenly raised his head, staring right through the white haired teen. Allen turned his head and then looked at the water pools as well, seeing the steam taking form of a woman...the same woman the Innocence had taken the form of. This time Kanda really did speak, calling who. "Who's there?!"

When he got no response, he stepped forward, walking right through Allen.

"Hey! You!" the steam woman then turned to look at Kanda, who was limping towards her, not watching since he was about to fall straight into one of the pools. Allen tried to reach out on instinct, his hand going through him.

"Kanda-!"

"YU! WATCH OUT!" Allen turned his head and saw Alma rushing to the pool Kanda had fallen in, looking mildly panicked as he yanked the other back out, watching him choke and splutter. "Geez...what're you doing?"

"Did you follow me again?!" Kanda managed between coughs, clutching at his chest and shooting Alma a glare. Alma raised his fists, crinkling his nose and responded haughtily.

"No! I was just reading a book here while eating some snacks!" he then looked to the side, his expression softening. "You know-"

"What is this place, your room?" Kanda snapped irritably, before he went wide-eyed and scanned the room. "Where...where did that woman go?"

"Huh?"

"There was a woman right there, right?!" Kanda trailed off, his eyes flickering when he couldn't see her again. "She's...gone…"

"Woman?" Alma suddenly looked excited, a grin crossing his face. "Could it be-"

Alma then wavered, making a sound of pain as he clutched at his arm, Kanda watched as Alma's arm fell off, blood dripping from the other.

"I-I forgot that my body was so weak after so many tests…" he let out a shaky laugh and then smiled, closing his eyes and tilting his head. "Are you okay, Yu?"

"I don't really have any-" Kanda was about to turn away from him, but gasped and fell to his knees, clutching his shoulder as the exact same thing happened, Alma letting out a giggle. "God damn it-!"

Allen watched them, surprised that they weren't even mildly panicked that one of their limbs fell off, the two of them making it over to one of the walls and leaning against it to rest. Their arms grew back within minutes. Alma was glancing around nervously, uncomfortable with the silence, but his attention snapped back to Kanda when he spoke.

"You said 'could it be…', what were you going to say?" Kanda asked quietly, refusing to look at Alma as he rubbed his arm. "You said it earlier when I saw the woman."

"Oh...that," Alma's eyes then went blank as a childish grin crossed his face. "I thought it might've been a sprite!"

Allen didn't need to guess what Kanda's reaction was going to be, since he expected it straight away. The Japanese child scowled and then started to crawl away.

"I've had enough of your shit-" it didn't take too long for Alma to grab hold of his arm, pulling him back.

"Don't get upset! There _is_ a sprite here!" he nodded his head, ignoring the fact that Kanda was struggling. "It's a cute girl. Her name is For! I've seen her here...once...when I was crying because of all the rough synchronization tests…"

For was in Kanda's memories? Allen folded his arms, his brain ticking as to why the Asian Branch's guardian deity would have even shown her face to Alma.

Alma paused, then gave Kanda a knowing look.

"Ah! Is it possible you were crying too, Yu?!"

"NO!" Kanda immediately denied, causing Allen to hold back a snort. Alma's expression turned devilish as he moved closer to the other, leaning his head on his shoulder.

"Really? Weren't you comforted by her?" Alma was immediately shut up when Kanda whipped around and kicked him hard on the chest, sending him flying.

"That's not true!" Kanda got to his feet, standing over Alma while yelling at him. "Don't get familiar with me! Actually, you creep me out! You're always giggling foolishly!"

Alma's eyes watered before he snarled, jumping to his feet and kicking Kanda in the gut, sending in flying and then reversed their positions, standing over him.

"Look who's talking! You always look sulky! Mr. Gloomy!"

"What'd you say?!"

"I thought I finally got a friend!" Alma grit his teeth, glaring down at Kanda. "Then it turned out to be someone who doesn't even know how to laugh! I'm so disappointed!"

Kanda felt his eyebrow twitch, getting to his feet and shrugged his white coat off.

"Sat that again!" he pretty much dared, his gaze never leaving Alma as he stripped his own coat off.

"Sure, I'll say it as many times as you want!" they both tensed and threw punches at one another, fists colliding.

"You jerk!"

"Mr. Gloomy!"

Allen watched as their bodies couldn't take the blood, blood spurting everywhere as they screamed and fell to the ground together, laying in pools of their own blood.

"Time out for a bit…"

"A-Agreed…"

Allen could no longer believe that Alma was ever Kanda's friend. Kanda hated his guts and made it quite clear that he had no desire to get close to him. Watching these memories made the white-haired teen more confused as to why Kanda wanted to see Alma so badly.

But then he heard laughter. Looking down, he saw Alma and Kanda clutching at their sides, laughing loudly with smiles on their faces, trying to catch their breath. They were...happy…

" _This world is dark and it's very hard to breathe…"_ Allen heard Kanda's voice once more, but he was still laughing. _"But that time, when I tried to laugh like you, I felt like I could breathe a little easier…"_

"A-Alma, stop laughing, you creep-"

"Shut up, Mr. Gloomy-" but they continued to laugh, which made Allen smile slightly. This was a side of Kanda that he had never witnessed before. It was a side that he wished Kanda showed to him before he turned into a child. "We're bleeding so much...it's funny!"

" _Alma...it was one hundred and ninety-three days later...that I destroyed you."_

Allen froze in place at his words, staring at the laughing pair. He couldn't believe what he just heard. It couldn't be right, could it?

" _ **What you're hearing,"**_ Allen heard the Innocence speaking to him, but he couldn't see her. _**"Is the current Kanda. He's started to remember the memories that have been locked away...the memories I didn't want him to remember until he was ready."**_

"So Alma...Alma is…" Allen trailed off, then shook his head. "Kanda wouldn't kill him!"

 _ **"I wish I could say that he didn't…"**_

 **Trust**

"Everyone! Good morning!" the memory had changed once again. Allen saw Alma and Kanda standing by the pools. Kanda had a blank expression on his face as he watched Alma go around the sleeping apostles, speaking to them cheerfully.

" _He went to see those who hadn't awakened first thing in the morning and talked about trivial things. I don't remember when I started going with him for his daily routine…"_

As Alma went around telling the sleeping apostles about what he'd had for breakfast that day, Kanda leaned against one of the pillars, rubbing at his head, before moving his hand back slowly, focusing on his fingers. He then turned his hand and shielded his eyes from the light—

And Allen was forced to do the same when a bright ray of sunshine hit him in the face. He took his hands away and looked around himself, finding that he was in a pond full of dying flowers, a blonde haired woman standing in the middle of it. Her face was blurred, unrecognisable, but Allen immediately recognised it as the Innocence's form.

" **It'd be nice if we could come back to see these flowers before the petals fall."**

" _I can't see her well. Move this hand! Whose hand is—"_

" **Before the petals fall…"**

The scene vanished, Allen finding himself standing in the room of water pools again, but he could see Kanda staring at the woman of steam again, his eyes wide.

"What's the deal?!" Kanda shouted, trying to get closer to her.

" **I'll be waiting for you forever…"** Kanda's eyes flashed in annoyance as he reached out, trying to grab her.

"What the hell do you want from me?! Ugh-" Allen watched as Kanda clutched at his head and collapsed, hearing Alma call out.

"Yu?" Alma turned around, then saw the Japanese child laying on the ground, back turned to him. His bright blue eyes widened as he rushed over, his voice becoming panicked as he crouched next to him, trying to wake his friend up. "What's wrong, Yu? Answer me! Yu!"

Allen felt completely powerless. He could only watch as Alma cried for Kanda to wake up, could only watch as Edgar and some more doctors rushed in to help, then paused when he felt someone tug on his arm.

"Remember, this has already happened," Rhode seemed unfazed by the entire thing. "Kanda has already suffered all of this."

"Rhode! Where did you-"

"His memories were a bit locked up, so I went and done a bit of work to release them," she then smiled brightly. "Ne, you wanted him to remember who you were right? You want _that_ Kanda back, didn't you, Allen?"

"It wouldn't have mattered if Kanda remembered or not," Allen snapped. "Even if he never remembered, he would still be my friend!"

"I should have expected that kind of answer from you," Rhode then released Allen's arm. "But deep down, even you believe that Kanda should remember, even if he is remembering things he probably wished to forget."

"I-"

Allen felt the memory shake slightly, Rhode letting out a pout.

"Wisely is getting impatient," the Noah of dreams let out a soft sigh. "Probably doesn't like watching poor Alma and Kanda's friendship blooming. He wants to get to the point of it being destroyed."

Allen shook his head, refusing to believe that their friendship could be destroyed. They looked like they had become close...even if Kanda would have probably denied it. Alma was his best friend.

 **Trust**

When the memory changed, Allen didn't expect to see Alma running for his life, a weakened Kanda being carried on his back. What had happened from the point of Kanda collapsing to Alma running with him?

" _Everyone...Those of you who haven't awakened...I'm sorry…"_

Alma's voice? Rhode suddenly smirked, running beside Allen as he chased after the two of them, speaking to him calmly.

"Alma must be starting to wake up, if we can hear his voice," Rhode commented. "He's reacting to remembering what they were going to do to Kanda."

"What were they going to do to Kanda?" Allen couldn't help but ask, feeling the need to know why Alma was running with him. "Were they going to…"

"They were going to kill him, effectively," Rhode supplied. "But death would have probably been a much nicer thing."

 _"It's not that I'm abandoning you. It's just that...If they put Yu to sleep, I can't bear it!"_

"I was...I was finally able to become friend with Yu!" Alma cried out, tears streaming from his eyes. "I'm sorry everyone, but I can't let that happen to him!"

" _You idiot…"_ Allen heard Kanda's thoughts. Was he conscious? He couldn't see his face since it was buried in Alma's shoulder. _"We just started talking more often. That's all."_

Kanda was definitely in denial, Allen decided, his eyes flashing when CROW needles went straight through him, piercing both Alma and Kanda and causing them to fall and hit the ground with a loud thud. He stopped running, turning around to see CROW approaching them, whispering spells.

"Forbidden feathers!" the CROW approached closer, paying attention to Alma. "We'd like you to go back, apostle."

"CROWS?" Kanda managed out, trying to force himself up, but was far too weak to. "Al...ma…"

Alma's eyes darkened as he forcefully dragged himself on the floor, kicking Kanda and sending him flying, which caused him to fall off an edge before he could be locked in the CROWS binding spell.

"If things go well...you'll be able to go outside...maybe?" Alma called after him, sounding strained as he watched Kanda fall from his sight.

"Kanda!" Allen automatically ran and jumped after him, eyes widening at the drop and the water down below. "Why is there even a place like this to fall into?!"

"What do you mean, 'maybe'?!" Kanda yelled, falling until he hit the water, sinking into it, Allen falling in just after him.

"Run…" was the last thing that was heard from Alma, before the sound of electricity striking was heard, then silence. Allen stayed under the water, watching as Kanda sunk, visibly unconscious. Did Kanda come back up? The white-haired Exorcist was about to panic, but when he saw Kanda's eyes snap open he looked relieved— until he saw the child struggle to break the surface again. He surfaced with him, watching Kanda gasp for breath and cling onto one of the rocks, deadpanning.

"Can Kanda not...swim…" Allen shook his head, then pulled himself out of the water when he heard strings being played, looking around himself. "What is…"

"Marie!" Allen glanced over to where he heard the strings, seeing Marie Noise sitting on the canal bridge wall, his eyes bandaged up and playing with his strings. He then looked to where he heard Marie's name being called.

"Section Leader Bak…"

Bak and Marie were in Kanda's memories? Why? Allen watched the two of them, brow furrowed.

"We don't know when you'll have to be on the next assignment," Bak tried to catch his breath, concern lacing his features. "Please...rest…"

"I'm sure that I'll die in the next battle...I can die…" Marie continued to play his strings, smiling softly. "I'm relieved that I'll no longer have to fight while smelling my comrades' dead bodies."

Bak lowered his head, Allen feeling his heart clench at Marie's words. It wasn't something he would have expected the blind Exorcist to say, since he had always seemed so...happy.

"Do you detest us for relying on apostles?" Bak asked, biting at his lip as Marie turned his head in his general direction.

"No...I can't see anything anymore, so…" Marie suddenly stopped playing his strings, raising his head. "Did you just hear a child's voice?"

That's right. Kanda. Allen caught sight of Kanda pulling himself up onto the bridge, dripping wet and panting, Bak looking confused as to what was going on.

"'If things go well' my ass! That idiot!" Kanda hissed, kneeling on the wall. "On top of that, this isn't outside at all…"

He then fell off and hit the ground, Marie jumping and Bak standing stunned.

"Hey...pull this out…" Kanda forced out, gasping softly. "Please…"

"What?" Bak seemed to snap back to his senses. "Ah...I'll go call the medical team right away!"

He turned to leave, but Kanda was was quick to grab his ankle, pulling until he fell, making an irritated noise.

"I'll be fine...once it's pulled out…" Bak turned around and looked at him, wide-eyed.

"Who on earth are you?" Bak asked, rubbing at his face. It didn't take long for Marie to reach down and pick Kanda up, holding him close and pulling the needle out without hesitation

" _This smell…_ "

Allen flinched when Kanda winced in pain from the needle being pulled out, watching as Marie continued to hold the other close.

"Would this do?" Marie asked. Kanda turned to face him, his eyes flickering and glazing over, before they went blank, his head tilting back. "What's wrong? Oh...he fell asleep."

"What the hell is with this kid?!" Bak blurted, disbelief crossing his face. "No one would fall asleep that easily after having a needle that deep pulled out-"

"Please hand that child over to us," Allen turned his head when he saw CROW crossing the bridge, clenching his fists. He wanted to stop them, he really did, but Rhode was always constantly reminding him that he was completely _useless_ to Kanda right now.

 **Trust**

" _This smell...that's right...blood and dead bodies…"_

Allen stood in a room, Kanda laying on a table covered in intricate designs, attached to a heart monitor and an IV attached to his arm.

" **Hey...do you know what this flower is?"**

The scene changed again, to that scene with the dying flowers. Allen turned his head to see a male reaching up towards the sky, soaked in blood and dying. He had no idea who this man was. Though he did somewhat resemble Kanda, but at the same time looked nothing like him at all.

"Towards...the sky…" the man spoke, Allen furrowing his brow at his words. The sky?

' _I want to see it...it's vast and blue and…'_ Kanda had asked him to see the sky. Allen could remember taking him up to the garden to see it. How happy he had been to step outside and see the stars.

" **Lotus flower… They're born from mud towards the sky and they make this world smell good… we're like this flower, aren't we? It is like us Exorcists..."**

Allen thought he was going to be sick. Things were slowly starting to click in place, though he honestly didn't want to believe that Kanda…

Kanda…

"I love you...forever…" listening to him again, this man sounded exactly like Kanda, his voice speaking in his rough Japanese accent.

"Kan...da…" Allen covered his mouth, then turned his head when he heard the voice of an Akuma, who walked over to the male, towering over him and smiling sadistically.

"You're still alive," the Akuma kicked the hand that was reaching for the sky down, looming over him. "This will finish you, Exorcist!"

"KANDA!" though Allen could only watch as the Akuma pierced his chest, could only watch as the man's eyes went blank, his body going limp. In the distance, he could hear someone crying, crying out the poor man's name, though that quickly went silent as well.

He returned to the room Kanda was in, freezing in place when he saw the child reaching up towards the dark ceiling, his eyes open and confused.

" _I...I love you…"_

"Remove the equipment and the IV." came the voice of Sahlins, causing Allen to jerk. Both he and Renny removed everything from Yu, Allen almost biting his tongue off when he saw the tears filling Kanda's eyes, shouting at both Sahlins and the girl.

"What they hell is wrong with you people?!" he yelled, coming to stand by Kanda's side. "Can't you see that he's suffering? How could you-"

"This is what the Order does, Allen," came Rhode's voice, though she was standing a bit away from him this time. "They use you. Apostles of God? You've got to be joking me. They only see you as weapons, nothing more."

"Rhode-"

"I see...then I'll leave the persuading to my uncle," Allen got distracted when he heard the voice of Twi, who was speaking into a communicator. "No. Continue to keep this area isolated from the branch office. Even if Bak comes by, don't open it, no matter what. I'm sorry to put you in the middle...For."

Kanda's head tilted to the side, realization hitting him in the face. For. For was the name of the girl Alma was talking about when he demanded an answer about the woman he saw. His face suddenly cracked into a sickening grin, laughing maniacally, his limbs flailing slightly. Allen looked over at him, silver hues flickering. Had Kanda lost it?

"Yu," Twi walked over to him, ignoring his laughter, staring down at him. "I'm going to cast a spell on you. You'll probably be in a little pain, but it'll be over quickly. You'll go into a sleep from which you will never wake up from."

"You've been deceiving me, haven't you?" Kanda stopped laughing, his tone lowering and his eyes going dark as he looked at Twi. "The Second Exorcist Plan? Artificial Apostles?! No...No…! Everything was a _lie_! I was an Exorcist! I was killed by an Akuma a long time ago, wasn't I?"

Allen bowed his head, all of his suspicions confirmed from Kanda's words. Just what had the Order done to him. What had Kanda done to deserve any of this?

"What year is it?" Kanda paused, his eyes widening. "How many years has it been since 'then'...? What'd you do? What'd you do to us?!"

Allen watched as Kanda became stricken, going into shock.

"Then that was...that Innocence was...the one that belonged to me…"

"Let's begin, Chang," Sahlins spoke, his attention on Twi. "The more we let this drag on, the more it could potentially damage the brain."

Allen went rigid when the table Kanda was lit on glowed brightly, the Japanese child screaming in agony as he was electrocuted, his eyes rolling back into his head.

"Aren't...you…" Kanda sounded strangled, his back arching. "...meant to be...my allies?!"

"Innocence is the only thing…" Sahlins responded, holding a book in his hands. "That can bring victory to us in this crusade! You Exorcists are the only ones who can save the world!"

Allen thought he was going crazy. All he could hear was screaming, all he could see was pain and suffering. He reached up and clutched at his head, his eyes going blank as he started screaming himself, tears streaming down his eyes.

" _What is that...what is that..._ What is that?!" Allen and Kanda's thoughts blended together, Allen feeling like he was going to lose consciousness until he felt arms wrap firmly around his neck.

"Allen!" came Rhode's soft voice, holding onto him tightly. "Allen! Get a hold of yourself!"

She knocked his hands away from his head, his eyes widening.

"Don't lose control of yourself!" she shook him gently. "Or you'll be swallowed by Yu Kanda's thoughts! Remember...Remember who you are!"

Allen's eyes lit up again as he gasped, stilling in Rhode's embrace, his body trembling.

"Remember...you're Allen!"

"Rho...de?" he blinked when she reached up and cupped his cheeks, before visciously pinching them and pulling them apart. "Ow!"

"Listen, these are Yu Kanda's memories," she reminded him, who knows how many times now. "They already happened in the past-"

 **"Just because it happened in the past...justifies what they did to Yu?** _ **To Alma?**_ **"**

There was a flash, and then darkness, the only thing that confirmed that he still existed was the fact that Rhode was still embracing him.

"I can't...find it…" Allen felt his skin crawl when he heard the voice of Alma, wiping the tears away from his eyes. "Innocence is gone?!"

"A-Alma…?" Allen looked around himself. "And...we're in a lab?"

"We're now inside Alma Karma's memories," Rhode whispered. "It's proof that he started to wake up, influenced by Yu Kanda's memories."

"Kanda-"

"Shhh."

"Is this what you guys are after?" Rhode simply smiled and giggled, turning her own attention to Alma, who had wrapped himself around a tube, his body covered in dirt.

"I won't let them put you to sleep! Just wait, Yu!" he then slid down the tube, the voice of Edgar calling down the hallway.

"Alma!" light flooded the room, Edgar holding a small lamp as he looked down the tube Alma had slid down. "

"W-Woah, I-It's shaky-"

"Come back, Alma!" Edgar pleaded, placing the lamp down. "I know Yu is important to you, but-!"

"No!" Alma shouted, looking up from where he was clinging onto the tube, his eyes cold. "You guys don't understand! You _monsters!_ "

Alma bowed his head, then spoke with determination.

"I'm going to save Yu! As long as I have Innocence...I can fight..."

With that, he dropped off of the tube, Edgar shouting after him. Allen and Rhode felt the memory shift, moving them so that they could see what Alma could see.

"No! Don't go there! Alma!"

Allen looked around himself, seeing many tubes wrapped in fabric, furrowing his brow.

"Whoa…" Alma sounded amazing as he crawled onto one of them. "There are so many…"

"Is this where the Innocence is stored…?" Allen spoke, looking around himself. "I thought Hevlaska would have been the one to look after the Innocence, but…"

One of them started to glow when Alma came close to it, bone like wings coming from the structure. Allen watched, then glanced to the side when he heard footsteps running into the room.

"Innocence-" Alma was cut off when he was wrapped in the CROW's flame feathers, all of them exploding at once. Were they trying to kill him?

"Alma!" Allen shielded his face, then looked up to see Alma had gone still on the fabric covered tibe, his skin blood red from the burns.

"Did he stop moving?"

"He sure causes us a lot of trouble…"

"Inno...cence…" Alma could still move, surprisingly, reaching towards the glowing wings, his eyes wide and bloodshot. "...Yu…"

Allen grit his teeth. No wonder Kanda spoke of Alma the way he did. This child...was going too far just to save him. Did Kanda even know how far Alma went to prevent him from being put to sleep?

"He can still move? Damn doll," the CROW grumbled, stepping closer.

'Wait! He's an apostle!' a voice came through one of the golem's that were accompanying them, though neither of the CROW turned to look at it.

"No! He's trying to go against us using Innocence!" the responded, preparing more tags. "We cannot allow this."

"Yu…"

"Flame embers!"

"DON'T!" Allen jumped out, though within seconds the Innocence reacted, attaching itself to Alma forcefully and then moved quickly, slaughtering the CROW within seconds. The white-haired teen froze in place, unable to believe that the Innocence had…

This Innocence…

Rhode paid attention to the fabric tubes that were ripped open, humming softly.

"Poor child…" she closed her eyes. "He must've seen them here…"

"Seen them?" Allen spoke, feeling the Noah of Dreams hold onto his arm again as she nodded her head, reopening her hues, which sparkled golden.

"That's right. Their _real_ bodies…" she then glanced up at Allen. "The original bodies of artificial apostles. After all these experiments on the non-Accommodators, who could not synchronize with Innocence...in order to win the crusade, the Order started creating artificial Accommodators so that they would always have a certain number of Accommodators. They implanted the brains of Accommodators who could no longer fight into new vessels and experimented to see if they could synchronize with the Innocence that belonged to those Accommodators. That was the Second Exorcist plan."

"So Kanda...Alma…"

"Yu Kanda and Alma Karma are nothing more than experiments to the Order. Kanda still is, he will forever be enslaved to the Order until he dies...and they will probably repeat this process. I mean, they even went so far as to create the _Third_ Exorcist plan. They haven't learned their lesson, Allen."

Allen stared at the bodies that were now visible, wanting to spew his guys up then there. Though decayed, he recognised two of them straight away.

One was the man who reached towards the sky, the other was a blonde woman who wanted to see the flowers before the petals fell.

 **Trust**

" _She said we were like lotus flowers… they're in mud and make this world smell good...their way of life is like ours…"_

" **But in the end, they die off. They die off and sink into mud."**

Allen knew one of these voices was Kanda's, but the other, although it was Alma's voice, sounded so much like the Innocence that had been talking to them earlier. Where had she gone? What was going on?

Allen could only stare at the memory of the dying flowers, though he saw the blonde woman standing in the middle of the pond, tears streaming down her cheeks before she fell and sank. She didn't rise again after that.

" _It's pitch dark...what pleasant darkness…"_

" **I want to see...this place carpeted with them in full bloom."**

The sun was bright. Allen found it blinding as he watched the man shield his eyes, staring at the woman.

" **If I could see it someday with you…"**

" _You will…"_

" **Really? Even when we grow to be an old man and woman? Okay? I'll be waiting for you...forever…waiting…"**

Allen stopped when he ended up in the room Kanda was put to sleep in, hearing a loud gasp and then saw Kanda sit up, fighting against the electricity that tried to keep him down, screaming his head off.

" _Why…? Why am I trying to get up…?"_

Allen bit his lip, watching as Kanda fell back, only to force himself up again. He kept fighting, despite how much pain he was in. Kanda had always been determined.

" _I don't even remember her face clearly. I don't remember her name either. I can't remember them...my memories are already broken…"_

Kanda started crying again, fists clenching as he shook his head from side to side, his body convulsing, arguing with him, telling him to give up.

" _And yet...why…"_

"Why can't I give up the desire to see her?!" Kanda shouted, Allen jumping back in surprise as there was a flash of light, one of Kanda's hands being pierced through, a sword made out of Innocence appearing.

" _Innocence...damn it! Why is it appearing now?! Just because I'm an Accommodator to a thing like that, I had to...I can't take it anymore!"_

Allen stared, watching as an image of the blonde-haired woman flashed before his eyes, along with lotuses falling.

" _If I had this...I could survive...I want to...see her."_

And so Kanda reached out and grabbed the sword, using it to break the table her was on, then stumbled out of the room weakly. Allen could only follow after him, watching as he broke down a door of reinforced steel, his attention being brought to someone laying on a bed, an oxygen mask over his face.

"M-Marie?!" Allen gasped, his face turning pale. "No...don't tell me they're going to…"

"Che, I'm such an idiot…" Kanda spoke, leaning against the wall, his own blood dripping from his hands. "I'm so stupid...what do I do now?"

Allen felt chills as Kanda stepped forwards, his eyes dark.

"Shall I kill everyone in this place?"

"Kanda-" Allen paused when the Japanese child turned to look at Marie, who was unconscious and looked close to death. "No-"

"I saw this guy...the other day…" Kanda's voice was soft as he walked over to the unconscious male, examining him. "He's wearing the clothes of the Order...so he _is_ an Exorcist...this wound...is he dying?"

Kanda reached over slowly, his hand hovering against the wound on Marie's head, before he froze in place, his blood dripping off his fingers and into the wound.

"Is it possible…" Kanda's voice trembled slightly. "That he's also a test subject for the plan?!"

The Japanese child jumped when the heart monitor sped up and Marie's body lurched, scrambling back and watching how the blind Exorcist gasped and sat up, groaning in pain.

"WHAT?!" Kanda felt a hand rest on his shoulder, Marie's expression turning curious.

"Hm…? That voice...are you the little boy from the other day?"

Allen wanted to snicker at Kanda's dumbstruck expression, but held it back. Marie' words to him...how he had told him that Kanda had saved his life...was this what he was referring to?

When the memory suddenly changed, Allen did not expect to have to crawl through a vent with Kanda and Marie— Marie being dragged along by Kanda, whose expression was irritated.

"Sorry about this, little boy," Marie spoke, genuinely apologetic. "Injuries on this level wouldn't prevent me from moving on my own if I was still equipped with my Innocence, you know."

"Hmph." Kanda rolled his eyes, crawling through the vent, Marie's arms wrapped around his neck.

"At any rate, you're pretty strong, little boy."

"Yeah, it's a long story," Kanda muttered, continuing to move, never once getting tired. "Also, stop calling me 'little boy', or I'm going to kill you!"

"Then what should I call you?" Marie asked. Allen was still in disbelief that this was how Kanda and the Blind Exorcist met… "I'm Marie."

"You're pretty calm." Kanda changed the subject immediately, not really wanting to give Marie a name.

"Are you talking about the experiments with creating artificial apostles?" Marie asked, his words catching in his throat. "I'm not calm at all. I'm so angry that I feel like I'm going crazy. Even so...I manage to keep my sanity...I think it's thanks to you. It's because you're keeping company with me… If I were all by myself, I don't know what would happen to me."

" _Alma...I'm gonna take him...and get out of here...I don't care about the Order or the war...Anger...Hatred...I'll swallow everything. As long as I'm with Alma…!"_

Allen couldn't help but smile, watching as Kanda kicked through one of the vent doors and crawled through it, though when he came out himself, he recognised that they were in the room of pools and sleeping apostles.

His blood ran cold.

Standing in the middle of the room was Alma, covered in blood. When he turned to look at Kanda, his expression brightened, tears forming in his eyes.

"Yu! You're okay!"

Kanda smiled brightly, getting to his feet with Marie, but stopped when he finally noticed all of the bloodshed.

"Alma-" CROW lay dead everywhere, the sleeping apostles had been ripped to shreds and… Edgar had been completely pierced through by the Innocence that was attached to Alma's body. "Red...red...red…"

"Hm? Who's that big guy you're carrying on your back?" Alma asked, staring right at him. "Yu, I'm happy to see you…"  
Kanda swallowed, his throat feeling dry as Alma glanced downwards, his expression turning sad.

"...but I have to kill you."

With that, Alma struck, the Innocence reacting with him and aimed for Kanda, who only just managed to dodge out of the way. He then had to keep running as the strikes never stopped, moving a lot slower since Marie was on his back.

"Damn it!" Kanda couldn't do much when the Innocence struck Marie's shoulder, splitting it open, though he was quick to grow angered. "Alma!"

He jumped back against another strike, which resulted in him falling down stairs and dropping his Innocence sword, Marie falling off of his back. He reached for it, then tried to move out the way, but Alma caught up to him and slashed down, cutting the arm that wasn't holding his Innocence clean off.

"Kanda!" Allen ran down the stairs, then looked at Alma. "What are you doing? Stop!"

Of course, Alma couldn't see or hear him as he approached Kanda, his eyes flickering.

"I see...so you synchronized with Innocence too, Yu."

Alma struck again, his Innocence piercing Kanda through the stomach and sent him flying into a wall, his body cracking it before he fell to the ground.

"Little boy!" Marie called. He couldn't see what was happened, but he could still sense and hear. He knew Kanda was hurt and in pain, but couldn't do anything to help him.

"W-Why…?" Kanda grit up, eyes clenched close as he choked up blood, hearing Alma walk down the rest of the steps.

"While waiting all by myself for the others to wake up every single day, I was always wondering...why they hadn't woken up yet," Alma drawled, rolling his eyes and then laughed. "There was no way that they were going to wake up, huh? There was no way that they would _want_ to wake up. Oh man… I kept talking to them despite that...I bet I was super annoying. As you can tell, I'm loud. And I even read books so that I wouldn't run out of topics to talk about. Geez…"

"Is it possible that that you got your old memories?" Kanda asked, feeling his wounds steam in an attempt to heal. "Is that why you killed Edgar too? Is it possible...you killed everyone in the lab?"

"What a laughing stock I am, huh?" he laughed, tears still streaming from his eyes. "As things stand, I am just like an Akuma…"

After speaking those words, his Innocence turned on him, stabbing him in the chest, causing him to choke up blood and fall to his knees, eyes closing.

"Alma!"

"I couldn't stop it…" he cried softly. "No matter how many times I tried to destroy myself, I keep regenerating. I can't stop the anger and hatred, Yu!"

The Innocence struck again, but this time aimed for Marie, puncturing his stomach and sending him flying to the side. Kanda was quick to look over, but Marie didn't so much as move after that. The blind man's words rung through his head, which caused him to grit his teeth.

Kanda froze in place as Alma wrapped his arms around him, embracing him and holding him close. It was as if time had stopped, for the other was holding him close, crying into his shoulder.

"Yu…" he sounded so content, Kanda didn't know how to react when the Innocence moved and stabbed him from behind, piercing him and Alma together.

" _It's not your fault…"_

"You would understand...right?" Alma pleaded, still holding Kanda close.

" _You're not at fault at all...Alma…"_

The Innocence ripped from his body and Kanda fall onto his back, laying there with a blank expression, Alma standing over him, his tears never stopping.

" _Why is this happening?"_

"Lets die together. As long as we're alive, humans will never repent. In order to win the crusade, they'll continue to use us as instruments forever."

" _They just want to protect the world…they just want to protect their loved ones..."_

"The ones I should protect are all gone," Alma cried, his eyes turning red. As Kanda stared at him, his eyes went wide as he saw flowers and petals fall around them, feeling his insides clench.

" _A flower…"_

He slowly reached up towards the ceiling, trying to grab hold of one, but they simply fell through his fingers, and then he saw the sky. The vast, blue, beautiful sky…

" **I love you, Yu."**

He couldn't die like this. Allen watched as Kanda regained light in his eyes, reaching for his sword and then slashed suddenly, ripping Alma in half.

"Y...u….?"

"Alma...my only…" he closed his eyes, which burned with hot tears. "I'm sorry, but I want to live! Even if that means that I have to _destroy_ you!"

Allen couldn't bear it. Kanda didn't stop his slashing. He continued to rip Alma's body to shreds, refusing to let him regenerate at all— and he only stopped when it looked like he could regenerate no more.

"Kan...da…stop it...stop it...now..."

"This happened because of the Order, Allen," Rhode stood behind him, no longer watching the scene. "Did you really think that they were that righteous?"

The memory changed again, and Allen saw that Kanda was standing outside now. His blade of Innocence was in one hand...and a fragment of Innocence was in the other. He stared at the fragment, then dropped it on the ground, falling to his knees.

"A grand, blue sky…"

Allen looked up towards the sky, which had a couple of white clouds scattered on it. His attention was then brought to the sound of rubble crunching under someone's foot. Though the last person he expected to see was…

Froi Tiedoll.

 **Trust**

"Stop...it..." the Noah's paused when Allen suddenly spoke, Wisely blinking in surprise that he had even managed to while under the influence of his evil eye. "These are memories that Kanda didn't want anyone to know!"

His left arm sparked with Innocence, which alarmed Wisely as he tried to keep him under wraps.

"No one...should pry into them!" Tyki and Sheril looked at one another, then back towards the white-haired teen. "KANDA! Just how long are you going to let them keep doing this to you?! You IDIOT!"

Allen suddenly moved, raising his left hand—

And swiftly cracked Kanda's forehead with a punch, cracking Wisely's evil eye with his Innocence and sent Kanda flying back. Wisely started screeching his head off, Rhode's doll form sitting up and looking at the Noah of Wisdom in pity.

"Cracking his forehead with your Innocence? You're merciless, Allen…" she spoke, glancing over to Kanda, who lay flat on his back, unconscious.

"We've always been like this, so…"

"It hurts! My head hurts!" every Noah in the room let out a sigh at Wisely's pain, watching him flail around. "OW! OW! OW! OW! OW!"

"Oh no... looks like that caused Wisely's chronic problem to come back…" Rhode tilted her dolls head, then watched as Allen moved towards Kanda, sitting him up, obviously growing concerned that Kanda hadn't regained consciousness.

"BaKanda, I didn't even hit you that hard—" though he paused when he saw Kanda's face, recognising the telltale streaks that stained the Japanese's face. Tears. "K-Kanda…?"

But Kanda didn't wake up, no matter how many times Allen called his name.


	14. Chapter 14

**Trust**

 **Summary:** After a reaction between Kanda's and a newly retrieved Innocence fragment, the Japanese Exorcist turns into a child. With Leverrier believing that the reaction was caused by betrayal, how was Allen meant to make everyone believe Kanda was innocent? How was he meant to get Kanda to trust him when he could only remember what the Order had put him through?

 **A/N:** And now we steer away from canon as the random ideas that consume my brain take over…

 **Chapter Fourteen**

 **Fourteenth**

"K-Kanda…?"

Allen shook Kanda, holding him in his arms, trying to stir the Japanese male awake. What was going on? Why wasn't he waking up? Did he really punch him too hard?

The ground suddenly shook, Allen cursing loudly as he held Kanda close to his chest, the wiring snatching up Tokusa and dragging him up into the air.

"Tokusa!"

"Walker!" the Third yelled, struggling. "The parent body...stop Alma Karma!"

The ground split, Allen trying to keep his ground as the wiring snatched everyone else up in the wiring. The only person he managed to keep a hold of was Kanda, calling out to to everyone who looked like they could barely breathe.

"Johnny! Everyone!" when the ground settled, he lay Kanda down and activated Crown Clown, only to stop when he heard the Earl's laughter. "Earl!"

"Did you fully enjoy the story of love and tragedy caused by the orders disgusting act…" the Earl's eyes glinted. "...Allen Walker? Or rather, the Fourteenth."

"What?!"

"Second Exorcists...the Order sure does do terrible things, doesn't it? So they want to go that far to win the crusade, huh?"

"Shut up!"

"We're having a party today to celebrate your last day at the Order, remember?" the Earl then clapped. "Everyone's here now. Shall we start the entertainment? You'll all be destroyed by the Akuma _you_ created. Now it looks like that the judgement dawn of Alma Karma has come! Be prepared!"

A thick bundle of wiring then separated, revealing Alma, who was curled up in a ball, clutching at his head. Dark matter crackled around his skin, Bak and Johnny calling out to him quickly.

"Alma is waking up!" Bak shouted to him, his eyes wide. "His hatred is being converted to the energy of the Dark Matter that is inside his body!"

"This is bad, Allen!" Johnny cried. "Alma Karma will turn into an Akuma!"

"No…" Allen gasped, watching as a purple glow enveloped Alma, making a move to try and help, but Desiras was quick to stop him, slamming a pillar into his body. Heat filled the room, Allen recognising what it was straight away when it touched his skin. The Akuma virus… "Stop it Alma! Many people are in here!"

Alma then screamed loudly, a huge blast filling the room, the entire North American Branch collapsing on top of them. It didn't take long for Allen himself to lose consciousness, suffocated from the dust and rubble.

"Writhe in agony...Allen Walker…"

 **Trust**

When Allen came to again, he was forced to push rubble off of himself, his vision hazed as he reached up and rubbed his head, gritting his teeth in pain.

"Would you wake up already…?" Allen raised his head, his eyes widening when he saw Tokusa sitting in front of him, bleeding.

"Tokusa?!" he watched as the Third choked up blood and then collapsed, rushing over to him, kneeling down and helping him up. "You protected me with charms?!"

"It'd be a disadvantage to us in the war if the number of apostles is reduced…" Tokusa managed out, then closed his eyes. "You were the closest one to me, so you were the only one I could…"

"So everyone...everyone is…" Allen's throat clenched, unable to see the rest of the rubble-covered field they were on. "I-I couldn't…"

"No one died," Tokusa managed out. "That...that brat...the Second…"

"Eh?" Allen's eyes widened. "Kanda…?"

The dust cleared— and Allen then knew what Tokusa meant. Kanda was standing in the middle of the ruins, his arms stretched out, his eyes glowing a bright emerald. Allen could see everyone wrapped in a soft green glow, which seemed to have protected them from harm.

"Kanda!" he called out, trying to get his attention. "Is...Is that you, Kanda?"

"Of course it isn't," the Japanese male finally spat, dropping to his knees. "Yu Kanda hates my existence, so there's no way that he could _possibly_ know how to use my abilities."

"Inno...cence…?" Allen watched as Kanda's head turned to face him, those green hues piercing straight through him. "You saved...everyone here?"

"Deep down, I know Yu would have gotten mad if everyone died," he responded. "Alma wouldn't have liked it either...if he was in his right mind."

"Oh, so _that's_ who you are," came the voice of Rhode Kamelot, who was sitting on Sheril's shoulder. "You were Alma Karma's Innocence to begin with, weren't you?"

Kanda bowed his head, not looking up. Allen was staring in disbelief at the others back, still holding Tokusa in a sitting position.

"So that's how you knew what was going on in those memories," Allen decided. "It's because you've experienced them from being with Alma and Kanda, isn't it?"

"Shut up, Allen Walker," he snapped. "I don't need to hear that coming from you, or those damn Noah. Do me a favour and move already. I need time here...Yu needs time to recover, and Alma is moving."

"Better do what the brat says," Tokusa choked up blood, glancing to the side. "Alma has spotted him."

Allen bit his lip, then laid Tokusa down, making sure that he was in a reasonably safe position, getting to his feet and making his way over to Kanda, kneeling beside him, furrowing his brow.

"Is Kanda okay?" he asked, unconsciously reaching up and moving the others dark hair away from his face, noting the sweat that made it cling to his forehead. "You-"

"He's exhausted," the Innocence responded, eyes closed. "Why did this have to happen? He just needed a little more time...a little more time and then…"

"Yu…?" Allen raised his head when he heard the voice of Alma, who was now completely fixated on Kanda— though looked confused as he glanced down at himself, and then back to the Japanese. "Why have I...but you haven't…"

"Nine years have passed since then, Alma," Allen responded. "Kanda has grown since then...but the Innocence, it—"

"Yes, _my_ Innocence seems to cause so many problems," Alma then snarled, then started moving towards them. "That _Innocence_...it rejected me, so it'll reject Yu as well. Not that it matters...because this time, I'll _kill_ Yu for sure this time."

"I...never rejected you," Kanda's head suddenly raised, emerald hues darkening. "You rejected me. Innocence automatically reacts to dark matter. And you...you would _never_ want to kill Yu-"

"Trust me, I really did," Alma responded. Allen watched as dark purple markings etched across his skin, his hair coming in dark and his eyes bleeding into a soft blue. "Yu doesn't deserve to live…"

"You saw the memories, didn't you?" Allen yelled, watching as Alma paused. He left Kanda's side, slowly approaching the other, his gaze steely. "You saw why he wanted to live! Can't you forgive him after knowing why he wanted to keep living on?"

Allen could feel Alma's wave of hatred, his body going rigid when he heard a cry of shock behind him. He turned around and then looked at Tokusa, whose body appeared to be mutating into that of...an Akuma.

"Alma's cells are-" Allen cursed, looking at Kanda, before rushing to help Tokusa, only for one of the mutating limbs to smash into him, sending him flying into one of the barely standing walls. "Damn it!"

' _I can't forgive you…'_ Alma's voice rung in the air, sounding distraught. _'I can't...!'_

"Allen Walker…" Kanda opened his eyes, then sighed. "It can't be helped. In his current state, he can't…"  
Kanda then paused, then clutched at his head, his eyes bleeding back dark cobalt.

' _ **Yu, what on earth are you doing? Do you even know what you're doing?!'**_

"Che," Kanda rose to his feet, wavering slightly as he shot a glare at Alma. "I know exactly what I'm doing. I'm finishing the job I failed to complete, so do me a favour and fuck off."

 _ **'Have you lost it? You're the one who said you would never kill Alma-'**_

" _Nothing_ will stop me from seeing _her_ again," Kanda spat, his eyes trailing along the ground for Mugen. "And if that means that I have to kill Alma, then so be it."

 _ **'Yu, listen to me. Alma is-'**_

Kanda quickly blocked off the voice of the Innocence, his eyes darkening as his tone lowered.

"Don't try and talk me out of it, especially after taking the form of _her_ ," the instant he caught sight of Mugen, he made a bolt for it, only to get blocked by Alma, who could move so much faster than he anticipated. "Alma-"

"I like that look in your eyes, Yu," Alma then grinned widely. "This hate...I only saw a flicker of it before...I want to see more of it…"

Allen was forcing himself off the ground, raising his head just as Kanda got blasted with dark matter, flying through the air and landing not far away from him. The Japanese child sat up within seconds though, disregarding the Akuma Virus that speckled across his skin.

"Kanda!" Allen watched as the other completely ignored him, his skin sparkling with Innocence as he ran again, Alma charging as well, surprised that Kanda managed to move fast enough to avoid a second hit, passing Alma and then grabbed Mugen. "Stop it! This...this is Alma! Your friend!"

Allen winced, feeling his cursed eye suddenly activate, his heartbeat increasing as he realised that Alma was, indeed, an Akuma. He stared at the person Kanda used to be so close to, then froze. The soul that hovered above Alma had her face covered as she cried loudly, her form wrapped in chains, distraught as she shook her head from side to side, her blonde hair loose and flowing.

' **Don't look at me! Don't look at me! Please…'**

"You're-!" Alma was quick to turn his attention to Allen, snarling loudly and then blasted dark matter at him. The white-haired teen braced for the blow, only to find it blocked by Tyki, who let out a sigh.

"Boy, you really need to stop getting yourself into these predicaments," Tyki Mikk spoke, glancing behind him. "The Earl won't be happy if you take _too much_ damage."

"Get out of the way, Mikk," Allen growled. "I need to stop this fight! Kanda doesn't know that Alma, Alma is-"

Alma had moved and then attempted to strike Tyki, who moved out of the way, taking Alma's attention away from Allen, which gave him enough time to get up and grab Kanda as he attempted to chase after the other, restraining him.

"Kanda! Calm down!" Allen winced, Kanda kicking out and pushing him back, pointing Mugen at him. "Alma-"

"Shut up, you fucking Moyashi," he tilted Mugen, then activated his double illusion sword. "You're getting in the way, so I'll deal with you first..."

Allen watched as his pupils split into three dots, then into four, Mugen suddenly bursting with dark energy as his hair turned white. Allen activated Crown Clown and tried to block the sudden fast attack, but felt Mugen plunge through his gut, the Innocence stilling him.

Slowly, he leaned forwards so that he could whisper in Kanda's ear, his tone gentle, despite the fact that he'd just been stabbed.

"Look at Alma…" he felt his skin burn as it started to turn ashen, spreading from the wound. "Alma...Alma is _that_ woman...the woman you desperately want to see…"

Kanda froze, going wide-eyed as Allen then pulled himself off of Mugen, the rest of his skin now dark as he fell back, his silver hues turning gold. He tried to reach out for the white-haired teen, but whipped around when Alma appeared, attacking him. He didn't try to defend himself, his eyes flashing with the image of the blonde woman he dreamed about.

He couldn't bring himself to attack. He couldn't. He closed his eyes and waited for the strike, but all he heard was Alma crying out as he got blasted back into the rubble. When Kanda reopened his eyes, he felt arms wrapped around his shoulders, pulling him back— and heard a voice that was unmistakably Allen's, although lower.

"You have a lot of explaining to do," Allen was staring down at Kanda, his gaze cold. "After I rip you out of this host of yours."

Kanda didn't try to resist when the Innocence pushed to take over, his eyes turning bright emerald, turning his head and then looked up at Allen.

"Neah Walker," he spoke, his tone harsh. "Lay a finger on him and I won't hesitate to retract the support I've been giving you."

Allen simply smirked, his grip around Kanda tightening.

"Some support that has been," he responded. "Thirty-five years have passed since that day...and my host is…"

"You'll thank me later," Kanda's face darkened. "Now let me go, or you'll regret it."

When Allen— or rather, Neah, didn't let go of him, he let out a sigh, his eyes glowing brightly and his skin crackling with Innocence. Neah was quick to let go and jump back, then glanced up when he heard the joyful cries of the Noah, jumping around and crying tears of joy.

"He's finally awakened, the Fourteenth!"

Neah grit his teeth, then looked back at Kanda, ignoring the fact that Tyki Mikk had taken to his side, his focus also on Kanda's form.

There was a blast of Innocence, Tyki immediately reacting and making a shield of dark matter, unable to see through the light the Innocence had caused.

' _ **I'm sorry Yu. This might hurt a bit, since you didn't have enough time to recover.'**_

The light brightened, causing most to back off when the Innocence sparked everywhere. When it settled, Neah wasn't surprised to see Yu Kanda standing, his body being wrapped in green silk, his long hair coming loose, no longer in the appearance of a child— but of a man.

" _Known as God's healing hands, she defies the law of illness and death,"_ Neah spoke, causing Tyki to look at him questioningly since it appeared that he was quoting from something. "...Eva Maria, one of the four Independent Innocence's, a quarter of the _Heart's_ shield."

Tyki's eyes narrowed at Neah's comment, then glared Kanda down. Kanda's eyes stared back calmly, reaching down and plucking at the green silk that was wrapped around him, then sighed.

"Did you really have to say that with _Joyd_ standing right next to you?" his eyes narrowed. "And with so many witnesses of the _Order_ watching?"

"They would have found out either way, considering they already know you have an affiliation with me," Neah replied smoothly, gold eyes glinting. "So the question is...what will you and Yu Kanda do now?"

Gold hues met emerald, silence falling over them as time seemed to stop.


	15. Chapter 15

**Trust**

 **Summary:** After a reaction between Kanda's and a newly retrieved Innocence fragment, the Japanese Exorcist turns into a child. With Leverrier believing that the reaction was caused by betrayal, how was Allen meant to make everyone believe Kanda was innocent? How was he meant to get Kanda to trust him when he could only remember what the Order had put him through?

 **Chapter Fifteen**

 **The Promise**

The silence was deafening. Gold focused on emerald, Neah silently telling the Innocence, Eva, to answer his question. Though it never did get answered, since both of their attention moved to the Third Exorcist, Tokusa, who had moved to attack Kanda, Alma's strangled grudge echoing from his form.

' _YU!'_

Kanda's eyes flickered as he raised Mugen, having no hesitation when he came to cutting the Third down, being as it was the only thing that could be done to save him now—but paused when he felt a sharp stab of dark matter go through his shoulder. Behind him, Alma had managed to get back to his feet, though his expression was not what the Innocence had expected.

Alma...was crying.

Slowly, his eyes bled back to cobalt, Kanda himself pausing as he looked down at himself, seeing that he was now standing in his original form. His fingers flexed around Mugen, staring at Alma, his expression unreadable. He no longer paid the Third any attention, since it seemed to have gotten distracted by Bak Chang, who was using the sprite stone on it, For defending him the instant she was summoned.

"Why won't you just die, already, Yu?" Alma asked him, which caused Kanda's eyes to darken slightly. "You don't deserve to live…"

"As you've already told me," Kanda spoke, his tone edging towards cold. "You seem to dislike the fact that I have a reason to live—"

"No," Alma's hands lit up in dark matter. "You don't deserve to live...in a world this cruel…what kind of life is it to live...with these new memories and the old...to keep looking for _her_ , when you can never be with her?"

"Alma-"

"You don't even remember her face that well, do you?" Alma continued. "The only reason you remember...is because of that _Innocence_...that _Innocence_ remembers _me_ better than you do."

"You're making no sense at all," Kanda spoke bluntly, causing Alma to shoot him a blank expression. "Why would I keep looking for _her_? There is no need to now."

"Y-Yu…?"

"You're right in front of me, aren't you?" he then closed his eyes. "You might not look like _her_ , but you are her, Alma. Even you know this."

"You knew-" Alma's eyes were still full of tears. "...I'm nothing more than an Akuma now though."

Kanda froze in place when he was pierced through with dark matter, watching as Alma slowly walked towards him. Tyki couldn't help but take a glance back at Neah, who didn't make a move to help, raising a brow. What relationship did he have with this Innocence before? Because it seemed like he didn't give a damn about its host.

"Nine years ago, you destroyed me and survived," Alma spoke, staring at Kanda, his expression hurt. "But it was because...It was because you wanted to keep that promise with 'me', wasn't it?"

"And I will keep that-"

"I'm sorry. I know you'll continue to feel the need to search for 'me' for as long as you live, even though you know I'm right here," Alma then smiled, wrapping his fingers around Kanda's throat and tightening them. "That...I can't bear that...that you..."

"Why…?" he didn't even attempt to pry the fingers around his neck off, slowly reaching out for Alma's face. Suddenly, he was let go off and shoved back, his eyes flashing. "You look like you're in pain...so why are you smiling?!"

Alma's smile never left his face as he smiled wider, closing his face.

"Why, Alma?!"

' _ **YU!'**_

Neah watched from the sidelines as Alma's skin blistered, his skin swelling before he exploded, turning his back on them and started to walk away, full well knowing that Tyki would use dark matter to protect them from it.

"He self-destructed," Neah stated, Tyki shooting him a look, wondering why he would state the obvious. "Yu Kanda will live though. Out of sheer will or because of Eva Maria, I don't know."

"And what are you planning on doing?" Tyki asked him, watching as the Fourteenth Noah turned to face him. "The Earl wants you back by his side.

"Ah, about that…" Neah then smirked widely, tilting his head to the side. "I—"

Tyki watched as Neah paused, a scowl crossing his features as his skin turned back pale white, hues slowly fading back to pale. From the flicker of hurt that crossed his eyes, it was clear that Neah had been pushed back and that it was now Allen Walker standing in front of him once more.

"I _will never_ stand by the Earl's side!" Allen was quick to to clutch at his bleeding side, watching as Tyki blinked in surprise. "How many times do I need to tell you that you Noah and the Fourteenth can have your quarrels all you want, but don't think for a second that I'm getting caught in the middle of it!"

"Boy," Tyki then jumped back, golden orbs glittering in amusement. "I see you haven't lost all your bite yet."

Allen growled, about to approach him, but stopped when For ran from Bak's side and landed in front of him, glaring at him.

"Finally regained your senses, Walker?" Allen blinked, seeing that she was mad. "From the way it was going, it really did look like you were going to walk away with those damn Noah!"

"I wasn't going to-"

"Don't try and lie to me," For's eyes flashed, her arms turning into scythes. "You can't even remember what happened, do you?"

Allen immediately paled, still clutching at his wound, biting at his lip.

"What did I do, For…?"

"You pretty much revealed to the world that the Innocence in Yu Kanda assisted the Fourteenth Noah, gave the Noah information that could lead to them destroying the heart—" her eyes flashed cold. "You turned your back on that Second Exorcist when Alma exploded, so both of them are probably—"

"I _what_?!" Allen's eyes flashed with panic, looking around himself, waiting for the dust to clear. "Damn it… Kanda! Alma!"

As Allen ran off, For was then forced to engage with Tyki, who was planning on grabbing the white-haired teen before he could possibly find Kanda. He stared down the Guardian Deity, who raised and pointed one of her scythes at him.

"Your opponent is me Noah, don't get distracted!" For's arm clashed with Tyki's dark matter, her face grimacing slightly. "Hurry up...Allen Walker!"

Allen moved through the dust, his skin pulsing, his skin darkening a few times before it finally came to a stop. Eventually, after looking into the crater the explosion had caused, he managed to catch sight of Kanda's head, his white hair blowing slightly in the wind.

"Kanda…!" he went rigid when he saw Kanda, his eyes closed, his skin cracked and flaking and his body chalk white. "Oh god…"

He watched as his body the broke apart, falling to the ground and breaking further on impact. Allen jumped and skidded down the crater, coming to his side and clenching his fists. Looking to the side, he saw a ball that had the same symbol that Kanda had on his chest, reaching over for it and touching it gently.

"Alma…" he couldn't stop the tears that poured down his face, a wave of disgust rolling through him. Not at Alma, not at Kanda...but the Order. The _Order_ caused them all this misery… "Alma didn't become an Akuma to get revenge on the Order and Kanda…the soul within Alma was actually _'that person'_ whom Kanda loved so dearly...so _why_..."

Allen tried to calm himself, but the more he tried the more hurt he felt.

"After realizing the truth due to the Noah's spell…" Allen trailed off, feeling his throat turn dry. "Alma became an Akuma to bury his true identity forever…"

He bit his lip, and then shouted at the ball, knowing full well that it had been a part of Alma.

"Why? What about Kanda?! He's lived these nine years without knowing anything! How is he supposed to deal with that?!"

"I can't...tell him that…" Allen froze when he heard Alma's voice, his fingers still touching the sphere as it glowed gently. "Now that he knows that I'm _'that person'_ , he'll stop searching for me. But that promise we made…"

"About seeing the flowers before the petals fell?" Allen asked, his hand trembling. "He can still keep that promise-"

"Not that promise," Alma spoke softly. "Another promise was made that day, you just couldn't hear it...because Yu himself can't remember what it was. So long as Yu is bound by the promise with _her_...it'll haunt him forever, not knowing what that promise was."

Allen watched as Alma's body started to reform around the sphere, though only his upper half managed before the glow stopped, Alma panting softly as he flipped around and started to crawl.

"What was the promise, Alma?" Allen asked, biting his lip. "What could he have promised that would make him carry on?"  
Alma completely ignored him, crawling in the opposite direction, his eyes glassy and distant.

"He'll always be…" he struggled, his skin flaking. "Where's Yu's body…? Where is it? I want to be...by his side…Yu…! Yu…I really...didn't want to lose him, no matter what!"

Allen could hear his anguish, see _her_ anguish, her chained soul crying out for Kanda over and over again. He walked over to Alma and picked up his body, which he couldn't help but notice was oddly light, almost hollow. He heard Alma's cries stop as he turned his face to look at him, staring at him blankly.

"What…?"

"Kanda is this way," Allen responded gently, holding Alma to his chest. "I'll take you to him."

"...you're kind…" Alma whispered, the tears still streaming down his face as Allen walked back to Kanda's side. The white-haired teen smiled at his words, only to freeze moments later—

As dark matter erupted from his body, almost swallowing Allen as it shot Alma out of his arms and into the sky.

"Dark matter?!" he grit his teeth. "It wasn't completely gone!"

"It's fine...leave it be…" Alma's voice drifted to him. "Thank...you…"

"ALMA!" he activated Crown Clown, pressing his claw into the dark matter, trying to seperate it from him. "Damn it! Is it going to eat up Alma's soul…?"

Allen continued to swipe at the dark matter, but it continued to multiply. When Alma's chalk skin cracked off completely, leaving him in a form that was nothing but a bubble of dark matter, Allen felt his heart clench painfully.

"Moyashi…"

Allen whipped his head towards the sound of his voice, recognising it to be Kanda, moving away from Alma and then kneeled next to him, picking him up in his arms.

"Kanda…" he felt his eyes sting. "I-I'm sorry, I couldn't do anything-"

"Take me to his side…" Allen wasn't expecting him to request that, which caused him to stare at Kanda in surprise. "I need to be with him when…"

"I understand, Kanda," Allen nodded his head, Crown Clown glowing slightly. "Just give me a moment."

High above the ground, the Earl, Wisely and Sheril were watching Alma, Sheril's expression looking disgusted.

"What'll become of that, Lord Millennium?" he shielded his eyes from the sun. "It looks…"

"Nothing really…" the Earl responded, clasping his hands together. "It'll probably burst soon like a bubble and disappear—"

What the Earl didn't expect was for Crown Clown to wrap around him and pull, Wisely and Sheril both freaking out as they held onto him tightly, refusing to let him move. Allen had guessed that would happen, using the creator of Akuma as something to hold onto as he pulled himself and Kanda into the air, above Alma's head.

"Alma!" Allen watched as light returned to Kanda's eyes, which were focused on Alma alone.

"Yu…?" Alma's hand slowly reached upwards. "Yu's voice...from the sky…?"

"Do you remember that place where we were sent for our first assignment together?" Kanda asked, feeling Allen's grip start to slacken. "Do you?"

"I do," Allen nodded his head, feeling Kanda start to push away from him. "I could never forget."

"No one will find us there for a while." With that, Kanda jumped away from him, falling down towards Alma, When he got close enough, he latched onto him, embracing him close. Alma, despite being made of dark matter, stiffened, feeling the Innocence inside of Kanda react, starting to reform his chalky white skin.

"Kanda!" Allen called, swinging back once Crown Clown had stretched as far as it could go. "You-"

"Thank you," Kanda called out, closing his eyes. "Allen Walker…I'm glad you're here..."

Allen's eyes widened. It was the first time Kanda had ever called him by name, or thanked him for that matter. His lips twitched into a smile as he nodded his head, using the Earl's weight to swing back and land on ground.

"Yu…?"

"Alma," Kanda gripped onto him tightly, burying his face into the other's chest. "Lets get out of here together...and go someplace where there's Innocence nor the Order...this time for sure, together…"

"You...heard us talking?" Alma cried, gripping onto Kanda as he laughed.

"I heard everything clearly, you dummy."

"But you have _that_ Innocence-"

 _ **'I won't interfere with anything. Don't worry, Alma.'**_

The rest of the dark matter turned white, then cracked away. Allen looked up, seeing that they were now falling, before reaching his hand up, closing his eyes.

"Ark Gate!" Allen called, one of them opening just underneath the two, his eyes flashing. "I won't let the Order do anything more to them!"

"Hang on tight, Alma," when Kanda didn't receive a response, he glanced down, seeing that the other had gone still. "Al-"  
And then they went through the gate, disappearing from sight.

"Goodbye, Alma, Kanda…" Allen closed his eyes, his fingers stretching at as he watched the Ark flash, then clenched his fist. "Gate... _Adara."_

Everyone around him were frozen in place, but it didn't take long for someone to snarl at Allen, angered as he stepped up through the rubble.

"You _traitor!_ " came the voice of Malcolm C. Leverrier, his rage spreading across his face like wildfire. "You let Alma Karma and Yu Kanda escape! This is an order! Go through that gate and dispose of Alma Karma, or else you're no longer at Exorcist!"

"No longer an Exorcist, huh…" Allen looked back down at Leverrier, his eyes glinting as his skin turned back ashen, eyes turning back gold. "You honestly think, _Leverrier scum_ , that Allen Walker really wants to be an Exorcist after seeing what the Order put his...hmmm...I guess I should call them friends, through?"

"Fourteenth?!" Neah smirked widely at Leverrier's outrage.

"If there is one thing that Allen and I agree on…" Crown Clown flared around him, though for whatever reason Neah didn't seem to be affected by it. "Is that neither of us like the thought of being _mindless puppets._ "


End file.
